Chuck Versus Agent Insanity Part II
by FreeVessel
Summary: A sequel to Chuck Versus Agent Insanity. Chuck and Sarah are involved in a very dangerous spy game, Carina pursues both her official and personal agenda to the very end. Approaching endgame now!
1. Chapter 1

_For those who start with Chuck Versus Agent Insanity – Part II- reading the first part is a must._

_Anyway, here is a synopsis of it, just in case._

On the morning after Ellie's wedding Chuck wakes up in Sarah's hotel, but Sarah is urgently summoned to Washington – to get briefed on a top secret black op that would involve Chuck. Carina is reassigned to protect Chuck, fortified by Casey and NSA people who are staying at the same hotel. Carina turns out to be a very resourceful but schizophrenic woman, eager to deal with her personal problems.

Hence, Carina has her own personal agenda and uses the Intersect to that end. Once Sarah is back for the weekend, the events quickly turn into one hell of a crazy ride, with Chuck and Sarah finally having the opportunity to wake up in bed together, uninterrupted by: ideas about contraception, Casey, his cameras and microphones, and most importantly, **the TV show producers/writers**… ratings you know. Both Sarah and Chuck realize that Carina is using every opportunity to manipulate them one way or the other. The story ends with Sarah traveling back to the LA airport, for her flight back to Washington.

Of course, all the fun is taken out of this synopsis.

Chuck Versus Agent Insanity – Part II

Chapter I

HONEYMOON OVER, BABE

Sarah, Chuck and Carina were still in the car, driving to the airport. They were all engulfed in their own thoughts.

Carina was frowning. She had to find a way to fit the Vincenzo thing into her so busy schedule now.

It was next to impossible. Dammit.

She glanced in the rear view mirror.

The potentially eternal bliss that had been radiating from Sarah's face only a couple of minutes ago was now completely gone. The improvised honeymoon was over. If anything, she looked somewhat anxious.

"What are you worrying about, huh, Sarah?" Carina wondered, while watching her. 'The incoming op? Finally remembered about Bryce? Poor Bryce', Carina shook her head.

Actually, both issues were on Sarah's mind and in a very troubling way at that. She was doing her best to control her face expression. She so wanted to cry now.

First, Sarah remembered that Chuck was about to be involved in the most dangerous mission ever. In this crazy country there, they are ultra-suspicious about anything of Western origin. German, Austrian, it didn't matter. Whatever cover story they came up with, he would be under the microscope of the Iranian security services from day 1.

So far, she hadn't been able to talk Agent 20 into inserting Chuck as an embassy employee. And she had tried so hard! Thus, he would have at least the diplomatic immunity protection. That was now her priority number 1 now.

Then Sarah remembered about Bryce, her former partner, and _first_ romantic interest. She has to live through his death for a second time.

Now it was much worse.

The first time he 'died" as a rogue spy in her head, and she had mixed feelings about his motives even if she had mourned like never before in her life.

But now it was so different. He turned out to be a true hero. He had protected Chuck knowing that he'd be hated by so many people for this – Chuck himself, his friends, relatives. He lived up to his promise to Chuck's father, Orion. Then, on the wedding day, he went back there to fight Roark and help Chuck protect his sister. _It was such an incredible sacrifice._

And on top of all that, Bryce had seen with his own eyes how she, Sarah, the love of his life, had turned away from him. He had given everything, including his life for others, and never received anything in return. If life was really unjust to anybody in this world, it was definitely Bryce Larkin.

Sarah realized that tears were rolling off her eyes now. How could she forget about him all these past days?

She tried to recover, then glanced in the mirror. Had Carina noticed? She was looking ahead of her. Chuck still looked so indulged in his reverie. Probably remembering what they had said to each other there in the bedroom. Between the action parts. Sarah smiled through her tears and swallowed hard.

Her thoughts returned to the operation. It was so dangerous that she really feared for Chuck's life like never before. She realized that soon after she lost Bryce, she was facing the real possibility of losing Chuck. The thought was even more terrorizing now that she and Chuck …

Sarah's spy instincts were signaling her that she was being watched now. She threw a quick glance at the mirror. Yeah, Carina was staring at her. So was Sarah now.

'Mourning Bryce, right?' Carina exhaled very slowly.

Staring at Sarah, she mimicked with her lips "Bryce?" without letting any sound out.

Sarah nodded at her.

'Yeah, of course it was Bryce. He so didn't deserve this. He had put his life on the line for many, many years and finally lost this one battle. Well, there was nothing you can do about this Sandra, she said to herself and sighed again.

Carina looked at the back mirror. Nothing suspicious behind them, no tail.

_Then she did something she knew she wasn't supposed to. Not now. But she couldn't help it._

She stretched her hand to reach the rear view mirror and readjusted it so that she could see not the back _but herself now._ She knew very well who she would see there. It was her little sister, of course. She was staring at her as usual.

_There were two major mechanisms that used to prompt her sister into action in her head. When she was deep into her thoughts about something important and needed to talk to her – when she looked at a mirror, it'd be the sister there. _

_It happened also when Sandra pinched her nose and talked like a robot to her sister. _

_It was part of their real life interaction as little girls before the crash. Her mom or dad would see Sandra and say, 'Hey, Sandra, go get your sis here, dinner ready!'_

_Sandra knew what was the surest way to find little Carina who so loved to hide somewhere. She would pinch her nose and start calling her sis: "Beep, beep, I can see you Carina, stop hiding, I can see youuuu.'_

_The moment little Carina could hear that, she would start giggling._

Sandra had picked up the trick from her mom, who used it when Carina was only a few days old. Mom would do it when the baby couldn't stop crying. Once she started producing the magic sounds, baby Carina would instantly become silent, mesmerized by the show, and soon start giggling.

Sandra, then 4 years old, got so excited by the effect that she immediately started imitating.

After so many years it still worked.

But now she couldn't do it with other people around.

'Well' her little sister started, 'you _know how it is'. You can't do anything to help him. It is another tremendous injustice, that he's gone. But you can't turn the clock back. It's beyond your powers.' You will never …'_

'I know,' Sandra interrupted. Feeling powerless made her so angry. She pressed on the gas. The car was visibly accelerating. Sarah, being a wild Porsche driver herself, hadn't noticed, but Chuck did.

'Wow, Carina, last time I checked, this was not NASCAR and I'm not your navigator. As much as I'm flattered by your implied proposition, ….'

But she wasn't listening to Chuck. She was listening to her sister. She glanced again at the back mirror. Little Carina was still there.

'_Don't you think you should watch the road? You don't want us all killed, do you?'_

'Yeah,' Sandra growled inside and looked ahead. She was still furious. Damn, it wasn't the time for this now!

She tried to concentrate on the driving but half a minute later she couldn't resist it any more – she looked back at the mirror.

Carina was gone but Sandra still couldn't see her own face there. It was foggy. What on earth was that? She looked again. There seemed to be a small dot. Getting bigger and bigger now, like somebody walking toward her. It was a male silhouette.

Half a minute later she could see that it was a familiar one. Looked like Bryce Larkin. Yeah, it was he who was watching her from the mirror now.

'Hello, Carina, missed me? How long has it been?'

None of them could remember.

'What do you want Bryce?' snarled Carina.

'Wow, wow, what's with the attitude, dear? You know very well where this is going. Now we'll meet and talk to each once in a while.' Bryce offered a really evil grin. 'After all, I'm an integral part of your brain now, aren't I?'

Yeah, Sandra/Carina already knew that. She had read several major books and everything on the Internet on the subject matter. _Her double personality disorder had just turned triple. It happened before to other people._

She shook her head and exhaled, 'Oh God, I got a problem.'

'What,' Chuck inquired, 'what's the problem, Carina?'

'Oh, boy, did she say that loud?' she shuddered.

Carina was a trained and experienced spy, so she recovered in an instant, 'Oh, my stomach. Obviously it's disagreeing with something. I guess it's the cabbage,' she lied. 'Good that we'll be arriving at the airport in a couple of minutes.'

Indeed, about 5 minutes later, they were there at the parking lot of the airport. Chuck was taking Sarah's bags out when yet another, equally annoying trouble hit Carina.

Her mobile phone started ringing. It was the _other_ one. The secure handset. Sarah was standing next to her.

'Aren't you gonna answer that, Carina.' Sarah inquired.

Carina knew who was calling. There was only one person in the world who could reach her on this phone. Neither Sarah, nor her Asian contact could do that. For now.

And Sarah was the last person in the world that she wanted to be next to her at the moment.

No, it's not that important,' she lied. I'll deal with that later."

Sarah had just suspected that it was the rogue mobile ringing now, but from Carina's choice of words and the way she said it she knew she was right.

She stepped ahead, toward Carina, only about two inches were separating their faces.

'And why aren't you answering it now, Carina? Is this the rogue one?' Sarah was whispering, with as much anger as she could emit under the circumstances. "Care to tell what other games you are playing currently?

"Stiff it, agent Walker. You're overstepping your authority here." Carina fought back.

'Oh, really, look who's talking about overstepping. Will you answer it or not?' Sarah whispered viciously.

Chuck had finished with Sarah's bags and turned towards the two female agents a couple of seconds ago.

Wow, they stood there like two Amazons, pitted against each other just seconds away from starting a life or death fight. He wondered what else he'd missed.

'Wow, ladies,' Chuck had started. 'You've got an impartial umpire here, eager to help you res …'

'Shut up Chuck,' both yelled at him simultaneously.

'Move 10 feet away and stay there,' Carina continued. 'We'll be finished with our conversation in a minute!'

"Yes, Chuck, go and stay there," Sarah nodded.

'OK, OK, I don't mind a little Amazon show. What will you two fight for, what's the prize, heh?' he lifted his hands sidewards, obviously implying that he might be that prize.

Both Sarah and Carina rolled eyes and turned against each other.

Well, Sarah went on. 'Are you answering it or shall I?" She offered her hand.

Without saying anything more, Carina made a step back, took out her secure handset, then her third and last secure chip from an inside pocket and inserted it into the phone, after removing the back cover. Then she answered, "Hello sweetie, missed me?

'Oh,' Agent 20 answered from the other side. 'You can't talk now. Right?'

'No, I'm at the airport, seeing off a friend of mine. Will call you back later, bye. Love you too.' She hung up.

'See, nothing rogue.' Carina smiled at her.

'Yeah, putting on this ridiculous show just fixed it all, right? From now on I believe everything you say" Sarah was furious but there was little she could do.

"I think you've got a plane to catch Sarah. Let's go, shall we?" Carina turned to Chuck and smiled. "Issue resolved agent Carmichael. We are good now.' She turned and left Sarah there, still fuming.

'Ah, one more thing, Sarah, if you want to talk to Chuck while in Washington, you better use the secure mobile. I'll send you my number once you turn it on there. You are only the second person who'll know it. I guess you wouldn't mind talking to him once or twice a day, right?'

Sarah shook her head and said, 'you are incorrigible.'

15 minutes later, in the lobby, Carina left them to say good-bye, finding excuse in her 'stomach' problems.

Chuck was holding Sarah's hands in front of him, watching her in the eyes.

Well,' he started, 'the real torture can begin now. You are leaving me for how long, milady? How on earth am I going to survive this?'

'That's how it is, once you are into real relationship, Chuck' Sarah said quietly.

'Yeah, what do you suggest, we go back to our fake one? Torture will be still the same.' Chuck smiled.

'No, No, No,' Sarah was smiling and shaking her head, 'I think I'll pass on that particular proposition,' she came closer and hugged him. They stayed that way for several minutes.

'Just try to call as frequently as possible, if you want to see me sane and sound here, when you're back, promise?' he whispered.

'Promise.'

'And thank you for giving me the happiest day of my life.' He said very quietly.

'Chuck, this can be possible only if it works both ways. It happened only because it was the happiest day of my life' she countered.

'Point well-taken, boss.' Chuck agreed. 'Are you still my boss, or now I'm the one. And how does that play out when we pursue our extracurricular agenda, because I liked calling you the boss, you know.'

She was giggling. They were about to part when Chuck started again,

'Last question, last question, bzzzzz, he tried to imitate a quiz show sound, 'who is the happiest nerd on this planet, … in the universe, you have 5 seconds.'

Sarah smiled, 'Noooo Chuck, wrong question here.' Then she went on, '_Nerd_ is the wrong part. I know however who is the happiest girl. Told you the name several hours ago, sorry, bzzzzz, 5 seconds gone, I win.' she had that impish grin now.

Chuck shook his head. "I hate you, you know that, right? ' he said.

'Yeah, I know that, but not as much as I hate you, remember that. Time for me to go, bye Chuck.'

At that Sarah kissed him lightly on the lips turned around and strolled away with her bags.

Carina had reappeared 30 seconds ago and witnessed their interaction from some distance. She had stared at Sarah and then her wrist, signaling that she'd miss her flight.

Carina approached Chuck who was still watching after Sarah's disappearing figure.

'Well, lover boy, time for us to go back to the hotel.' She tapped on his shoulder."My head is spinning at the thought how much work is still ahead of us.'

Carina had to physically push him in order for him to move.

At Carina's request, Chuck was driving on their way back. She chose to sit in the back seat, she told him she was going to try to snuggle and sleep there.

First, however, she pulled out her secure mobile and dialed back the man who called her half an hour ago.

'Hello, boss', Carina started.

'Well,' Agent 20 said. 'Can you talk now?'

'Kinda. I'm still driving back from the airport.'

'Oh, I see, the asset is there with you, right?'

'_Yeah,_ I'm ok.' Carina confirmed.

'So, tell me what you think.' Agent 20 insisted. 'It's time for me to make some decisions on the issue at hand.'

' Yeah, I know.' Carina sighed. 'My opinion hasn't changed, Don, and it's not gonna change, end of story. But the final word is yours, as always. I'm really terribly, terribly tired now. Will call you again soon.'

'Ok, Sandra, over.' On this Agent 20 hung up and thought about what was ahead of them. Not good, not good at all. Those operations were never good.

'Who was that? Don, heh?' Chuck inquired.

'_Ah, it's nothing, Chuck, one of my bosses at the DEA. Talking about this incoming op._ Drive safe, I'll try to sleep a bit.' She tried really hard to get some sleep.

_Chuck was nowhere near feeling safe and normal now. It had just happened again. The nausea, the eyes rolling. He was flashing while driving. _

'Oh, God, what did he flash on this time?'

It was one of those _other_ flashes. A really fast one. A second, max. No kung fu this time. Chuck saw inside his head a big computer screen with a computer program that looked like voice playing and voice analyzing software. With all these moving audio sinusoids.

Inside the lower window, the left half had a red background and a sign 'negative' blinking. The right one however was green, with a 'positive' sign blinking there.

He was still able to hear Carina's sentence, replayed and replayed in his head, again and again.

'Ah, it's nothing Chuck, one of my bosses at the DEA. Talking about this incoming op.'

'Ah, it's nothing Chuck, one of my bosses at the DEA. Talking about this incoming op.'

A couple of seconds later the red and the green halves joined into a big purple window, alternatively flashing:

Half-true , half-lie, half-true , half-lie,...

'Amazing' Chuck exclaimed in his mind. He turn back to see whether Carina had noticed this. No, her eyes were closed, looked like she was sleeping. Good.

'Which part is the lie, huh, ... Carina.'

He remembered his father. He really wanted him to be here now so he could talk to him about this new thing. He liked it a lot.

He didn't need to be Devon, to know how to react on this tremendous news. This was sooo awesome.

Now Chuck was watching ahead the road, driving, smiling and humming. Awesome! This new ability was soo awesome.

xxx

Ellie couldn't believe her eyes. She was looking at two parallel red bands now. It was her pregnancy kit. Positive! It was POSITIVE!

Her heart was pounding like crazy now. 'Oh, God, I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant, I have to tell Devon, Oh my Gooood.' She rushed back into their hotel bedroom.

Devon was still sleeping there.

'Good job, captain.' She smiled at him but decided not to wake him up. Devon deserved it. She sat on the bed and closed her eyes, smiling wide.

They were only half way of their honeymoon there, at this beautiful resort, but they had stopped being careful about two or three weeks before the wedding. It probably happened then.

She had woken up early and decided to make the test without expecting anything. Just out of boredom and because it was early morning. It was the best time for detecting representative levels of the hCG hormone.

Now she knew what she wanted to do – _get back home_. She didn't feel comfortable here anyway.

She dialed the operator and asked to be connected to the airlines office.

'Oh, God, please give me two tiny seats on some of these flights back to LA. That's all I'm asking you for …'

Whether it was thanks to God or this chaotic economic crisis, but Ellie got what she wanted. Three seats were vacant for the same day and she didn't think twice. The flight was 9 hours later. They'll make it.

'Book, book them for us, I mean two' she was yelling as the connection was so bad.

There was some moaning now coming from the bed.

'Babe, what book, what are you talking about?' Devon was somewhat awake now, anywhere between one fourth and two fifths.

"Anything wrong?" he went on sensing her anxiety. The first thought he came up with as an explanation was Chuck, now that he was a domestic and international super spy. Chills started crawling up his body. Oh, God.

'No, no, Devon,' Ellie was now leaning over him, totally panicked.

She was slapping his cheek lightly, trying to get her semi-sleeping husband into a somewhat satisfactory state of mind:

'I need you to focus, Devon. Please don't freak out, please. Can you be Awesome for me?

I need your A game now, Devon. Wake up!

Devon had turned his head toward her, looking both sleepy and scared. "Is Chuck ok?"

'Devon, Devon' a very anxious Mrs Woodcoomb went on, "No, Chuck must be fine, but I am …..'

The next 60 seconds entered the records of three majors nuclear powers as a 'world crisis event'.

The energy wave that started from a small hotel on the Hawaii, spreading in all directions caused a middle-sized tsunami, and a certain code word was received by listening stations throughout the Pacific, the radio operators of all nuclear subs in the three thousand radius picked it up, wrote it on a piece of paper and rushed to their boat commanders. They never wondered about the word being in open text, no encryption.

The skippers watched at it unbelievingly, and then rushed to this special room with the special books. The word reminded them about something really bad. Yeah, the code in their books for 'defence condition 1' or all-out war was :

!4-A-1-w-0-e-93-S-5-o-M-e!

One exclamaition mark at the beginning and the end of the code confirmed it was referring to level 1 of defcon. Then they had to remove the digits and see what the letter code was.

It matched perfectly the received command – AweSoMe.

Still unbelieving most of them gave commands for defcon1 to their crews and went to the communication officer to check this back again with Norfolk.

Similarly, nuclear armed B-2 bombers were already airborne, as were all 187 F-22 fighters, now combing the air for bandits.

At the International Space Station, the respective American and Russian teams had gathered at the opposite ends, guns pulled out and trained at each other, waiting for final orders to take over the entire station. In between, the remaining three international members of the crew stood with their hands up, eyes tightly closed, saying their last prayers. There was no way for the bullets of these two groups to get around them.

It took three very long and tense red telephone conversations and awful lot of truly awesome diplomacy between Washington, Moscow and Beijing to defuse the situation.

That's how powerful Devon's cry was this time. But it matched the occasion.

At the same time, Devon, still unsuspecting the almost apocalyptic effect of his reaction, was dancing on the balcony of his hotel suite, waving his boxers in his right hand and still shouting the decoded form of the defcon1 code.

What saved him from being arrested for lewd behavior was the presence of two NSA agents, disguised as hotel staff. They stopped the incoming Hawaiian police officers and turned them away.

Two hundred yards away, in another hotel, there was another team. Those were still waiting for their final order before they started what they were doing best. Snatching.

Their boss was standing on the balcony, watching through a pair of binoculars Devon and his boxers. He was shaking his head, muttering: "This is the weirdest snatch op in my entire life." Then he entered the living room door, still shaking his head.

'Get me through to the boss' he ordered.

xxx


	2. Chapter 2

It seems like when Casey and Chuck get together, they'll always get themselves into a lot of trouble. This Chapter is about one of those cases.

Chuck Versus Agent Insanity – Part II

Chapter II

Another Day, Another Vic

When Carina and Chuck got back to the hotel Casey was still snoring mightily under the kitchen table.

'Do they offer some type of muffler devices at four-star hotels these days?' Chuck wondered but kept that to himself.

Instead he said, 'Is it just me, or Casey has spent roughly 85% of the time over the last week sleeping here or there. Poisoned by your devilish concoctions, sprays, whatever? You're not a dart girl, are you?'

'Well, some of the time he slept was thanks to your kicking him in the head if I remember correctly, so how exactly am I the only bad guy here?' Carina retorted.

Yeah, Chuck remembered this now. And at the end of their mini-honeymoon, Sarah admitted to him that she had sprayed Casey at half-time of their mmmm.. love marathon. Just in case.

He looked worried now. "Were they turning themselves into another Carina? Drugging people for their own pleasure? Frivolous with the methods? Rogue?'

He remembered watching Sarah kill Mauser. He was so upset then. But later she explained why she did that. He had quickly forgotten about this, probably because his life was so full of high-adrenaline situations. It didn't make it right, though.

'Would you go and try wake Casey up?' Carina interrupted his thoughts. 'I need to take a shower. We'll have to decide what we do next.'

Chuck wasn't sure he was the most qualified person in the world for such a formidable task but the gentleman in him had no choice.

When he reached the kitchen, he first decided to move the table away from Casey so he had some space. And then he tried his best. Casey wouldn't care.

'Hello, Casey, general Beckman is here, ... wake up.' Chuck started again.

'Grr, Grrr,' Casey was obviously dreaming something, judging from the movements under his eyelids.

'Beckman is here in the other room, she wants to talk to you.' Chuck was yelling now.

Clearly, the general's name was nowhere near enough or just hadn't reached the right areas of Casey's brain.

Allowing a tight-lipped smile, Chuck started looking for something else. 'Yeah, it might work, it might work' he muttered out.

'Casey, Casey,' Chuck was shaking his shoulder now, 'Get up. Did you know? It's Ronald Reagan's birthday today. It's his 97th. The ceremony starts in 25 minutes, hurry up!'

He repeated it twice more.

The snoring stopped.

'Wow, it worked!' a triumphant Chuck exclaimed.

I wasn't meant to be, however. Casey just turned aside, opened his right eye slightly and roared at him, 'Nice try, numb-nuts. February 6.'

'What,' Chuck couldn't understand, 'February 6 what?'

'Idiot. Reagan's birthday, February 6. And next year it'll be his 99th. And Bartowski, one more thing', a super-cranky Casey went on. 'One more try to wake me up and I'll knee-cap you.'

At that, Casey gave Chuck a really vicious one-eyed look, turned his back on him and continued with whatever he was dreaming about.

Chuck sighed and turned. Carina was standing 10 feet away from him, watching the whole show, grinning. She was again only a towel away from her birth suit.

But this time Chuck didn't notice. 'Enjoying it, huh? Weren't you supposed to be taking a shower?'

"Ah, yeah,', she chuckled, 'but just before entering the bathroom I remembered to give you a heads up. That's why I came here. But it'd have been so impolite to interrupt this." She was really laughing now.

'What?' Chuck inquired.

'What what, Chuck?'

'What did you want to say?'

'Ah, nothing that important, just that it's been already arranged and I'll be working at _Orange, Orange_, as a temporary replacement to Sarah. Thus, we'll have access to the Castle again. And I think you and Casey should reapply for your former jobs at the Buy More. You should try to talk Casey into that once he wakes up.'

'Don't you see, Carina? The guy is dead-sleeping. Why don't you try …?'

'Well super agent Carmichael,' she interrupted, pursing her lips, 'here is your first mission. 'Wake up Casey without getting knee-capped. You have 5 minutes." At that Carina winked at him, turned around and rushed to the bathroom.

'Easy for you to say, you medi..evil manipulator,' Chuck blurred the two words, exhaling this through his clenched teeth.

His thoughts focused on Carina now. She did so many outrageous things, but with such lightness, so playfully, that he couldn't be seriously angry at her. Yet, so much around her remained mystery.

Now Chuck remembered his new ability. _The lie detector_. Yeah, he should think of the right questions and then confront Carina, once his new ability flashes again.

With that thought and a corresponding evil grin, he turned back to the colonel, still sleeping on the kitchen floor.

'Think, think, think.'

Suddenly, Chuck noticed that Casey's key-chain had slid off his pocket, probably when he turned last and was lying on the floor next to him.

'Yeah, the Vic', Chuck exclaimed.

He stepped forward, very carefully, and picked up Casey's keys. Then he went to the window. The kitchen overlooked the parking lot and he could see Casey's beloved car there.

The black Vic with this new, white upholstery, looked really beautiful even to 'not exactly a car' guy like him. He looked at the panic button of the car remote.

Then he remembered Casey's threat. Yeah, he better be careful. There was a smarter way to do that. He stepped away from the window, took his snickers off, his left hand was up, holding the remote, reaching the window and pointing at the parking lot. He closed his eyes and pressed the panic button. Then in one jump he was back to Casey, left the keys there on the floor, next to him and raced away from the kitchen.

It was beyond apparent now, that Casey had just upgraded his car alarm with some new state-of-the-art stuff. Never before in his life had Chuck heard anything like that.

The blaring sound of the car alarm was an audio concoction of … everything under the sun.

Most probably, Casey had mixed into one file every digital sound he had been able to put his hands on, then upgrading his alarm system with it.

Military sirens, police whistles, standard car alarms squealing, of all types and in all frequency bands, gunshots, missiles and bombs landing on their targets.

Chuck even flashed on the audio signature of eight B-52 jets engines, recorded from a close proximity.

A wild-life buff could catch the roaring of at least three badly pissed-off lions, obviously fighting for the only female around. It was one hell of a fight.

Jeff's highly trained stalker ear would have discerned the lovemaking sounds of several couples at once. The thumping, groaning, everything.

La Cuidad would have detected the desperate and very last screams of many of her torture victims whereas Sasha Benacheck would have found out everything that had happened in all Bulgarian and Soviet prisons in a single gulp.

Casey must have really enjoyed doing this mixture.

Chuck was now positive about that even with his hands pressed on the ears. It started low but was gradually gaining more and more power. But how could it be THAT loud now?

Chuck realized that Casey had opened the window of the kitchen trying to shout something at somebody outside and the sound was entering now without anything between the source and Chuck's head.

Still, there was no explanation why so powerful this horrible, horrible siren noise was. Everything was vibrating here.

Now Chuck remembered that several days ago Casey had installed in the Vic not one but two of those extra-power speakers that all these crazy teenagers have in their nitro-sports cars. Chuck had wondered about it.

Crazy teenagers tend to use those to see how many cranky buildings they can demolish in a single pass, but Casey?

Now the pieces of this particular puzzle were taking their rightful place. Obviously, the colonel hadn't trusted his new alarm's dedicated speaker and wired it up to the two super-power ones in his trunk. Chuck was pretty positive now that it had enough power to sound-screen the western hemisphere.

Worst of all, while it had started not that loud, now it was gradually gathering force and was next to unbearable even for the elephants in the quite distant jungles of Indonesia.

Chuck was totally freaking out now. What to do, what to do? Does he go back to the kitchen with the crazy colonel? He looked at his knee-caps. Oh no, he still wanted them in two pieces, tops.

But the noise was simply too unbearable. He looked around for the earphones. Couldn't see them.

He sighed, got up from the couch and headed to the kitchen still pressing his ears as hard as possible.

Casey was at the window, opened now, pointing his gun at somebody outside. Was he shooting at somebody or just shouting? Chuck couldn't tell. It was impossible to hear anything because the omnipotent, monstrous sound cocktail was drowning down every other audio wave.

Chuck had approached Casey and was now trying to signal him with his eyes and head to go to the parking lot and try to do something with the alarm there.

But the colonel wouldn't listen. He had one of those enraged mad expressions Chuck remembered when his previous Vic had exploded.

'Somebody's messing with the Vic. I'm gonna kill the bastard' he was shouting, but nobody could hear that.

He was obviously ready to shoot at anybody who would approach the Vic.

Casey had put the pair of earphones from the music system on his head. Luckily for him, they happened to have been left in the kitchen. Clearly the noise level looked somewhat tolerable to him.

Chuck realized that Casey was of no use.

'Think, think, think,' Chuck was desperately looking around, still pressing his ears as hard as he possibly could. He felt so helpless.

But then he saw Casey's car keys on the floor, exactly where he had left them.

'_The remote_'. He jumped toward them, knelt and picked them up. He immediately put the keys into his pocket and pressed the ears again. Then he went back to Casey, snatched away his headset and placed it on his head. Then he picked the remote again and started pushing all the buttons there, starting with the panic one.

Casey had figured out what Chuck's plan was so he didn't protest the headset gone, just pressed his ears. He could see how horrible the noise was now.

'Hmmm.' It was grunt number 12, meaning 'good thinking numb-nuts'.

Chuck was pushing the buttons of the remote but it wouldn't stop. Oh God. Probably, when Casey had been modifying the alarm with his insane sound, he had screwed up something so the alarm wouldn't respond now.

But then, it happened. Finally.

Two of the hotel security guards, earphones on their heads, and most probably wax earplugs under them, stuck in the ears, appeared from somewhere, both holding Uzi machine guns.

The Vic's trunk was wide open. Clearly, Casey had wired the alarm to the automatic lock there, going for a stronger impact on potential violators. Or maybe the trunk itself hadn't been able to withstand the audio torture and had given up.

The guards raised their guns and before Casey was able to do anything started shooting tens, probably hundreds of bullets at the speakers.

Casey had dropped his gun somewhere when he had to press his ears. Even if he had it, he wouldn't shoot at them. They were obviously former military, looking like marines, judging from their gait. Semper Fidelis, comrades.

So it stopped. Finally. Thank you God!

But there was no way out of so many bullets that one or more to not have hit the fuel tank of the Vic.

The horrible sound had stopped but Chuck and Casey now had the rare honor to collectively observe their second Crown Vic, limited edition, exploding in flames.

'Aaaaaaaaaargh!' blared colonel Casey, obviously trying to match the power of his already dead super-power speakers.

xxx


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III**

**Another Day, Another Vic – Part II**

'Aaaaaaaaaargh!'

Casey had gone apoplectic at the sight of his beloved but obviously quite mortal car, that had just got engulfed by a fireball.

He had one of those mad scientists looks, unable to say a word, tears in his eyes.

'Somebody had tried to mess with my car.' he shouted finally, breathing heavily. 'When I find out who is responsible for this I'm gonna waterboard the perp for at least 48 hours! Kill him! Knee-cap! Castrate! Decapitate!'

He couldn't stop bursting like some deranged version of Vesuvius.

Chuck, now wondering whether to worry about the knee caps or the much more important procreative section, raised both his brows and shoulders.

'Yeah, you do that, Casey, I hope you catch him soon' he shamelessly lied. But he could feel the chills taking over his entire coronary system.

'Where is Carina' Casey growled, roving around.

'She was supposed to take a shower, must be in the bathroom.' Chuck felt some relief in helping the guy even with something so insignificant.

Casey rushed towards the bathroom.

'Casey,' Chuck started, 'I don't think she'll appreciate the intrusion.'

'Shut up, moron, I need to talk to her' Casey snarled and opened the bathroom door without knocking . Chuck was right after him.

All Casey wanted to tell Carina was that he was going out to hunt down the devil that had just returned to earth to ravage his beloved Vic, so the Intersect was again her responsibility.

Carina was in the bath tub, covered with water and foam. She had put wax earplugs in her ears as she had heard the terrible siren as well.

On a small table next to the tub there was a device, identical to the one Casey had in his flat – controlling and monitoring cameras throughout the suite. The feed on the device screen now was from the kitchen, live.

She had seen everything that had happened there, laughing like never before in her life.

Carina noticed the two intruders too late, however. Casey had already seen the gadget. It was showing the kitchen. Seemed like live feed. He grunted.

He took it in his hands.

Carina didn't have the time to think and made a terrible mistake. "Casey, nooooo!", she screamed, stretching her hands toward the device.

Casey was stunned initially, wondering why Carina would mind him seeing the feed. And then it dawned on him.

Aaargh. _Chuck had tried to wake him up twice. So maybe it was he who had set the alarm off. It would have been so Chucky._

He wasn't sure, so he pressed the stop button, then 'store', saved the feed on a file and started reviewing.

Fortunately for Chuck, it was one of the latest versions of recording devices in the NSA inventory, it had tremendous storage capacity, allowing big files to be stored. It was almost 3 hours long.

By the time Casey had fast-forwarded to the frames with Chuck setting the alarm off, a lot had happened.

Among other things, Chuck had been able to:

Peek at what Casey was monitoring; get out of the bathroom; enter the bedroom; reach the drawer where Sarah had a copy of her Porsche keys; get out of the hotel; get rid of the watch with the GPS tracker; reach Sarah's car; drive it to a safe distance of 800 yards; and remove the battery from his mobile, so they couldn't track him.

Now he was driving away and away from the damned hotel.

"Chuck", Casey roared like a wounded tiger, face all red and tears in his eyes. 'You're dead man walking! Buy yourself a wheelchair! Say goodbye to your knee-caps! Hey, are you hearing me MORON ….!' The Vesuvius was bursting and bursting.

Casey was looking everywhere but couldn't find him.

Carina was so stunned that it was just now that she tried to figure out some solution.

She hadn't been able to see the unfortunate and premature death of Casey's second Vic as there weren't any cameras pointing to the parking lot. She had already gotten out of the tub and put a towel around.

'Casey, calm down, I'll find Chuck, just calm down.' She was yelling at him. While this had been fun, now it was really getting out of control.

'Grrrrr', Casey had still the look of a really mad scientist, now tormented with a bad case of hemorroides. 'That's the second Vic that Chuck destroys with his own hands. No way. He's dead!'

Carina sighed deeply and said: 'Oh, God, I can't believe I have to do this again.'

'What Falcone, where are you going?' Casey growled after seeing her leaving.

'I'm looking for my keys, John. I'm going out to look for the Intersect, you stay here! Have you thought about what we're gonna tell Beckman when she calls?'

'Beckman-wreckman, I don't care,' Casey, still obsessed with what had happened, obviously couldn't think clearly.

Carina had lied again of course. She went into the bedroom and took something else, not the keys. Then she went back to Casey.

'Listen, John, just calm down, we'll find a reasonable way out of this ...'

But he wouldn't listen.

Carina was still talking to him, trying to soothe the pain. Once she got close enough, her right hand reached Casey's nose again. Psssss.

The aerosol did its part again. Once unconscious, she dragged him to the nearest arm-chair.

Then Carina pulled her mobile out, took a high quality picture of the sleeping Casey and started typing a message:

"Chuck, it's safe for you to come back. I tranqed Casey. Sleeping. See the pic. Come back NOW! It's an emergency, Beckman is looking for you!'

Then she sent both.

Only after another hour and a half and 25 more miles away from the hotel, did Chuck find the courage to put the battery back in his handset and check out what was going on.

He saw the message and the photo, and called back.

'Hey Carina, you did it again, heh? Poor Casey.' Phew, that was close!' he said trembling. 'I haven't felt this way since Colt dangling me.'

'Did I have a choice, ah, Chuck?'

No, she didn't, Chuck shook his head in disbelief that he would approve.

_Right and wrong were now changing their places._

40 minutes later he was back there and they were dragging the sleeping Casey to the kitchen again, laying him down on his improvised bed.

They were sitting there now, next to him, wondering what to do.

'I guess we are exactly where we were a few hours ago,' he said shaking his head in disbelief, still looking at the sleeping colonel.

'Yeah, minus one beautiful Crown Vic, limited edition, white leather upholstery, GPS ...', Carina started.

'Yeah, yeah, I get the picture.'

_What to do with Casey, when he finally wakes up? They couldn't tranq him forever._

Chuck remembered what Casey had told him the first time, when his first Vic got destroyed.

It was something like 'How about buying me another car.'

Chuck had an idea.

'Carina,' he started, 'how much would a Crown Vic like Casey's cost on ebay or something? I spent most of my money on Ellie's wedding but I think I still have about 2,300. Could this be a reasonable price for a well-groomed Vic like his, aa former … one, aaa I mean former ones?' Chuck remembered that two Vics were now gone.

Yeah, that was the solution, good thinking Chuck.' Carina thought. It's just that with a 1995 Vic limited edition in perfect condition with GPS and everything the bidding would start at five grand, not Chuck's cap of 2,300.

So Carina needed to buy it by herself, provide the money without both Chuck and Casey knowing the amount involved.

The last thing she wanted was somebody to know about her financial situation. Nobody knew anything about it. Even the man Sarah knew as '_Agent 20_'.

'Listen Chuck, that's a great idea. Why don't you let me look for the right Vic for Sugar Bear, you go relax or play a game.' Carina suggested.

"No, no, I screwed that up, you know that. It's my responsibility to fix it. Sorry, Carina!' Chuck resisted. He was looking for his laptop now.

She tried again to change his mind but he simply wouldn't listen.

"Oh, no, not again!" Carina deeply exhaled.

'What Carina, is it your stomach again?'

"Yeah, no, actually no."

Chuck just started flashing the lie-detector program in his head, as what Carina had just said amounted to a half-lie.

But it was too late. Carina's hand with the knock-out spray was already under Chuck's nose.

Psssss.

She let Chuck lie down on the couch.

'Idiot' she scolded, 'why didn't you just let me buy the Vic?'

Carina sat down, with her laptop, in an armchair and started browsing ebay and everything else she could think of.

Yeah, she was right. The right Crown Vic in excellent condition had a starting price of $6,400 at ebay. And it was nowhere near the LA area.

xxx

After 2 hours and 45 minutes it was finally over. She had found a Crown Vic in a 'truly awesome condition' owned by some fan club.

They declined to tell her the nature or the name of the club but offered her a virtual tour of the car. It was shining both in and out. It had marvelous dark blue color. The car was as beautiful as was Casey's now dead one.

They explained that they were forced to sell it because of the economic crisis. Needed money to pay the rent. Club members weren't willing to pay their fees now.

It cost her $13,580, which was peanuts considering what she was worth.

She had wired the money immediately and the seller agreed to deliver the car in about 4 hours as they were located in the LA area as well.

Well, all she could do now was wait for the car and hope she hadn't been duped.

Chuck was supposed to wake up about 90 minutes earlier than Casey according to her calculations.

Wrong, Chuck woke up half an hour later than what she expected. Obviously, she had pressed the button more, out of irritation. This was not a life or death situation, so her typical spy instincts must have been off. She shook her head at him again. Idiot.

Once Chuck came back to his senses, Carina offered him some coffee and told him the great news.

He had just started complaining about being tranqed again when Carina interrupted.

'I saved your legs, Chuck, or rather your reproductive function maybe. I got another Vic for Casey, it's 1995, dark blue, perfect condition.' Carina was smiling triumphantly.

"Really? How did you get it so fast?'

'Well, I guess I got lucky, what else can I say? Online trade is the new black these days. Incredible.'

'Aaand,' Chuck remembered, 'hmmm, how … aaa how much ..?

'Aah don't worry Chuck,' Carina smiled, 'I paid 2,500 dollars for the whole thing, the crisis you know. Forcing them to sell everything. They are some sort of a fan club or something. All their prop's on sale.'

Now it happened for a third time. The quick flash. He was looking down, at the floor so she probably hadn't noticed. Chuck was flashing the lie detector program again. And again it said half-true, half-lie.

'_Which one was true and which one was the lie, huh, Carina.'_

He wrote down her statement while it was still replaying in his head, and then tried to recall the first one. But he couldn't remember her exact words from the previous flash now.

Well, from now on, he would write them down in his mobile. It was time for him to start figuring out Carina's secrets.

Xxx

Early in the evening, one of the NSA people, posing as receptionist in the lobby rang.

'Miss Falcone, there is a young blond woman here looking for you. She says it's about a car that she's sold to you.'

'Oh, yeah Jeffrey, thank you. Tell her I'll be down there in about 5 minutes.'

Carina turned to Chuck. 'Hey, the Vic is here, let's go get the keys. Have a ride, maybe?'

Chuck exhaled deeply. 'Thank God, I hope Casey will love Vic number 3 as much as he did his previous .... erm, partners in life, I guess. Let's go.'

He had entered his bank account some time ago and checked that he had 2,323 dollars. So he was telling her now that he would pay her back the remaining $177 a bit later.

They were in the hotel lobby now. Carina looked around. There was no young blonde there. She rushed to the reception desk. 'Jeffrey, where is the young lady?'

'Ah, she told me she'd be outside with the car. Must be waiting for you there.'

Carina and Chuck raced to the revolving door.

Now, having just gotten out of the hotel, Chuck and Carina were staying next to each other and staring at what was in front of them.

Yeah, there was indeed a young blond girl next to a shiny, shiny Crown Vic. And yeah, it looked like a 1995 model , limited edition. _But this particular edition was way too limited._

Both Chuck and Carina exclaimed, almost simultaneously:"Oh, my God!"

Chuck fell on the ground unconscious; Carina put her head between her hands. Mission failed. For the first time in her life, she failed a mission even if it was a stupid, stupid one about some really stupid car.

'Hello, miss Carina, nice to finally meet you. Is your boyfriend OK? He must have really liked the car. My name is Cornelia Stanford, founder and president of fan club "Legally Blonde".' Cornelia smiled and offered her hand to Carina, who was checking Chuck's pulse. He was fine.

She stood up.

Yeah, she could see that. The car had the most beautiful shade of hot pink in history. On top of that it had all sorts of flowers and hearts, painted on it, really beautiful ones, including clovers, just as on Casey's boxers.

But it didn't make her life any easier now. The car looked like a post card or one of those DVD covers of the two movies themselves. Only Reese Witherspoon was missing from the picture.

Well, Cornelia was wearing one of her pinky outfits, and was clearly trying to imitate her manners. Only the chihuahua was missing. Oh yeah, Bruiser had just jumped out of the car and joined the fan club President.

Carina couldn't believe it. 'Mission accomplished, Cornelia,' she gritted through her teeth. _You are the first person who was able to fool me in my entire life!'_

"What?' Cornelia asked as Carina was still staring at her.

'You like it? It's original, right from Elle Woods' closet. Oh, I see. I'm really sorry, it's not for sale, dear. Not in a million years.' Cornelia was shaking her beautiful head and waving her finger. 'I'd rather starve to death.'

xxx


	4. Chapter 4

Well, it's probably time for me to state the obvious – what I own starts with Carina's multiple personality disorder and ends with one Cornelia Stanford, another quite beautiful and fundamentally crazy chick.

One of the TV Show producers announced that Carina will be back in seasons 3 which comes to show once more what an opportunity Carina's initial character is. Hopefully, theirs won't be as insane as this one.

Chapter IV

Trouble in Pink, Again

Carina threw a quick glance at Chuck, he was coming back to his senses now, shaking his head. Good.

There was no point to confront the _pink princess_ about the color of the car. It wouldn't change the fact.

But Cornelia was standing there, in front of her, smiling, so Carina had to socialize for 10 or 15 minutes before they parted. So she asked anyway:

'Cornelia, dear, the car is perfect, well maybe next to perfect, but … why didn't you tell me about the color, we talked about a dark blue one, remember?' Carina tried to sound as friendly as possible under the circumstances.

'Oh, I'm so sorry, it is indeed dark blue, the blue paint is the original, under this. So, technically, it's still blue as well.' Cornelia said and after some pondering went on:

'I'm so sorry, we had three potential buyers and all backed off once they saw our paint job. I still can't understand why they wouldn't like this … work of art.' She turned and laid her eyes again on the Vic.

'Isn't it perfect, Miss Carina?' Cornelia looked at her with a longing expression. She was obviously dying for Carina's appreciation.

'Absolutely, Cornelia, absolutely perfect.' Carina simply didn't know what else to say.

'Hi, Mr. …" Cornelia was now kneeling next to Chuck who was still trying to focus on what was going on.

He looked at her. Young, probably 22, blond, very beautiful, made him feel uncomfortable.

'Carmichael. Charles Carmichael,' he said, smiling at her.

'Mr. Carmichael, did you like it?' a very anxious Cornelia asked, her brows had risen.

Chuck, who had always been a truly good person, couldn't even think for a minute that he would break her heart now, so he said, 'I love it, Miss …errr'

'Stanford, Cornelia Stanford, but you can call me Cora. I'm so glad you liked it. Congratulations.'

"Let's celebrate guys.' Cora announced. 'I'm buying. Let me take you to my favorite place. You'll see how nice and smooth this car is."

And before Carina of Chuck could say anything, she strode back toward the, no doubt, most beautiful car in the world.

"Well, at least we'll see at least if it is OK, engine, ride, etc. Let's give it a shot.' Chuck said raising his shoulders.

Carina shook her head. She was still fuming. Well, they hadn't eaten and Casey wouldn't wake for another 90 minutes, so why not.

'Mr. Carmichael, since your girlfriend bought this jewel for you,' Cora looked at Carina, 'I guess you'll be driving.' Cora smiled and offered him the keys. "Enjoy your new car.'

Yeah, even the keys and the remote were decorated accordingly, pink and fluffy.

'Casey's gonna kill me twice, not just once for this,' Chuck sighed and got into it.

She took them to a very nice Italian restaurant. They were sitting there on a table for three, eating and laughing.

Chuck and Carina were watching with tremendous curiosity and playing along with this crazy replica of Reese Witherspoon. Since Chuck had plenty experience in fake relationships, it was a child's play now to pretend to be Carina's boyfriend.

_And then yet another trouble hit team Bartowski. _

Chuck was smiling and talking something about his interest in science fiction, _with both girls watching at him._ Somebody at the opposite end of the room had stood up so Chuck could see him now.

Bright light, nausea, Chuck's eyes were rolling back and forth. He started talking like a robot:

"Dimitri Medved, suspected KGB runner of a sleeper cell along the West coast. Location unknown since 1985. Priorities of the cell, unknown. Urgent."

The person Chuck was looking at was quite different from the picture from the file he flashed on but there was another computer program in his head, blinking and comparing the basic features, giving a 97% 'positive'.

Both Carina and the crazy blonde had seen everything as they were watching Chuck at the time.

Carina, with all the adrenaline rush, in her head was at the top of her game now.

She whispered to Cornelia.

'Don't move, play along.' She had pulled out an FBI ID and was holding it close to her chest, so Cornelia could see it but the people behind her couldn't. She put it back in her pocket.

'This is a national security situation,' she said to Cora, 'if you do anything rush or don't cooperate, you'll spend the rest of your life in jail. Understand?'

Cora was shaking but managed to nod.

'Try to calm down, smile and order a dessert, OK? Order a dessert. You and Chuck, just chat and smile at each other.'

'I repeat, play along Cora, or you'll spend the rest of your life in jail!' Carina was staring at her eyes, as if trying to hypnotize her.

Cornelia and Chuck were trying their best. Under the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Carina had pulled out a small mirror and a lipstick from her purse and was checking her face. She was using the mirror to see the target behind her. 'Chuck, who is Dimitri?' she whispered.

She could see four people, three men and a woman standing now and preparing to leave. The mirror had a mini camera on its frame and was recording them.

'Black suit, red tie, on the left,' Chuck whispered back.

'OK, stay here and eat your desert, I'll be back.'

'Chuck, stay with Reese Witherspoon! 'Carina whispered viciously and got up.

"That's a new one' Chuck nodded approvingly.

He turned to Cornelia to explain. 'They always tell me to stay in the car, so I appreciate the change. It's kinda ... cool.' He said, not convinced whether it was the right person to tell these things. He just needed to share. It was so important to him.

The pink diva wasn't listening. She was staring at Chuck with eyes wide open and filled with fear. She was thinking only of the FBI badge she'd just seen and Carina's words, '... you'll spend the rest of your life in jail...'

Carina had noticed that the woman had headed to the rest room, the men were obviously waiting for her now. She decided to bet on her since the body language between her and Dimitri indicated intimacy.

Carina strolled toward the rest room, slowly, looking in her purse as if checking whether she had there what she'd need to fix her make-up.

She had to decide whether the woman was a trained spy too, and what kind of device was best to attach to her. She entered the rest room about 20 seconds after her target.

Yeah, she was standing there in front of the mirror, fixing her face.

Carina pretended to be looking for something in her purse, then she dropped her lipstick right before passing behind the woman. She leaned down to pick it up but first stuck something to the woman's skirt, from the inside.

She picked the lipstick and stood up next to her, smiled and said: 'Excellent brand, I use it all the time. My boyfriend loves it.'

The woman was middle age, good looking, elegant. Didn't look like Russian. But neither did Dimitri now.

She smiled at Carina, said something concurring and continued fixing her face.

Carina took her time doing the same. When the target finally left, she entered one of the stalls and pulled out her mobile. Yeah, the device was moving out of the restaurant now. Good. She started typing a message with the speed of light on the keyboard and pressed 'sent'.

Good, it was up to the local FBI team now not to screw up this and finally have the elusive Russian in their net.

Then, she went out, checked herself in the mirror and went back to Chuck and the girl.

They were trying their best. Chuck, already living a double life for about 2 years, was doing OK. Cora, probably because she was in the business of trying to be somebody else, apparently had some acting skills. She had recovered somewhat and was now smiling and talking to Chuck about their current fan club problems. She was stressed but trying to hide it.

'Well, guys, if you are finished with the desert, let's go,' Carina said. She looked at her mobile. The target was moving with a normal speed, so most probably they hadn't found out. There was already a text message also from the local FBI team confirming that they received her urgent one.

Back in the legally blond Vic, both Chuck and the girl were watching at Carina, expecting to hear her next ideas.

She had none at the moment. Instead, she started talking to Cornelia.

'Well, on behave of the US government, thank you for your cooperation Cornelia. You did very well.' Carina started.

Chuck was behind the wheel, Cornelia in the front seat, Carina behind them.

She was still talking to the blonde something about secrets that needed to be kept when Chuck saw Carina's left hand popping up in front of Cornelia's face. She had the knock-out spray. Pssst.

He didn't even try to protest it now. There was no point.

'What will happen to her now" he asked.

"I don't know. Our bosses will have to decide.' Carina sighed. 'She'll have to sign non-disclosure statements and stuff, government lawyers will have to talk to her, instruct her about the consequences, whatnot."

'She saw you exactly at the wrong moment, Chuck, just when you flash all this info and that's very, very bad. And do you realize how important this is? We are talking about sleeper cell, undetected, with no idea what they are up to. What a jackpot!'

'Can you promise that nothing bad will happen to her, Carina?' Chuck asked.

"I can't promise you anything, Chuck. I'm not the one who makes the rules."

'Sure, sure. You just love breaking them when you feel like.' he slipped up.

But she had heard him.

He knew he had done a mistake. She didn't deserve this now.

But Carina wasn't angry at him. After all it was true. However, she decided to use this opportunity to teach him a lesson.

"_Well, at least they won't shoot her in the head.'_ She said to him, trying to sound as innocent as she could. _'After all the US government is not in love with you."_

_'Like one particular CIA agent.' she thought but didn't say loud. It was obvious enough anyway._

Chuck looked crushed.

That was cruel and she knew it, but Chuck had chosen to upload the intersect himself this second time. He needed to be reminded on a regular basis how it was in the real world.

"Listen, mister,' she started her lecture, 'what Sarah did to Mauser was the right thing under the circumstances. I raised it here not as criticism for her, but to make a point about you having your kindergarten morality. The real spy world is like the jungle, tomorrow you may face up a wounded tiger there, do you really think you, with your childish naivety and virgin morality, will survive there?'

'Why did you upload the intersect?' she went on, feeling her blood boiling up, 'Why did you decide to enter this world, huh? There are about 75 thousand kindergartens in this country. Maybe you should have applied for a job there, instead?'

Carina was getting angrier and angrier so she decided to get out of the car before losing control and saying something she shouldn't have.

'I need some fresh air,' she said and rushed out of the car.' 'Stay here with the pink enigma!'

Standing outside how, she turned and looked at the car with Chuck and Cornelia inside. In a way, Chuck was as naive as Cornelia, the would-be Elle Woods, from these entertaining but ridiculously unrealistic movies.

She focused on the car. How ridiculous was that? She tried to imagine John Casey using it as it was. Parking, the pink beauty, setting off on missions, launching a stinger missile from her against some bad guys' helicopter.

Kneeling next to her with a bucket and a cloth, caressing her curves.

She started laughing at the thought.

She was splitting her sides with laughter there, with Chuck watching her and wondering why she would be laughing at him now.

She waived at him to come out and join her. He got off and strode toward her.

'Hey, what's so funny now?' he said still frowning.

'Look at the car, the hearts, the flowers, the pink. Close you eyes and try imagine Casey going on mission in it, shooting bad guys, tucking then into the trunk of this beauty. Or grunting and moaning while washing it in the morning.'

Chuck could see her point now. Yeah. He closed his eye and tried to imagine it. He started laughing. It was surreal, absurd, but very, very funny image.

After a few minutes they both came back to normal.

Carina was still watching at the car. But it was the girl now.

'Chuck,' she said. 'Do you see that girl? That's what you were before uploading the intersect. Naive and innocent. A virgin.'

'Ahh, I object. This is a bit overboard,' he had raised his finger in disapproval.

But Carina ignored that and went on.

'You rather need a girl like this blondie than Sarah. Maybe you should decide. Maybe you should find your father again, figure out a way to get the intersect out of your head and get this girl. She kinda likes you. Or, if you really want your new spy life you have to be ready for a different reality, different morality...

'That sounds to me like a false ..' he interrupted.

'No, I don't think it is a false choice, Chuck. At least my own life experience tells me otherwise. But if you insist, OK, time will tell."

At that she headed to the car.

'Let's go. It's my turn to drive.' she said. 'I think I deserved it. After all, in about 30 minutes this princess will be Casey's property.'

Where're we headed? Chuck asked.

'Our hotel, where else.' Carina replied. 'We'll take the blondie there. It's more comfortable than the Castle after all.'

40 minutes later Carina parked at the hotel and called some of the NSA people to come and help them with the girl.

It was already dark and they were able to get her into the hotel through one of the service entrances without anybody noticing.

The NSA agents carried Cornelia into the suite and laid her down on the double bed in the bedroom.

Carina decided to check whether any of the government databases, both intel and law enforcement had anything on her.

She turned on her laptop and a minute later started typing.

Several minutes later, here eyes went wide open.

'Ohh, crap!', she shook her head.

xxx


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter V**

**I Love You, Vicky!**

"Oh, crap!" Carina had exclaimed.

She couldn't find any Cornelia Stanford in any base that matched the girl's face. So she picked her Canon, took a picture of "Cornelia" and uploaded it in her laptop to check with face databases. That kind of comparison however would take some time.

Carina went out with one of the NSA agents, talking something to him while Chuck was sitting down on the couch.

'Oh God,' he said to himself thinking of all that had happened today. 'And I thought Ellie's wedding was the craziest day in my life. Now, I'm not so sure.'

When Carina returned, she pulled out her secure mobile, put the right chip and dialed Sarah's number.

'Hi, Carina, how are you all there?' a very anxious Sarah asked.

_Yeah, she had turned on the rogue mobile again._ Carina smiled. _You didn't have a choice, did you?_

'Don't ask.' she said instead. 'It was probably the craziest day in my life, or at least very close to.'

'Why, what happened, is Chuck, OK?' Sarah could sense now her heart pounding.

'He's fine, just sitting on the couch and resting I guess. He'd better tell you about it.'

She entered the living room and handed him the mobile. "It's Sarah. Curious how we spent the day. I'm gonna wake up Casey now.'

'I talked to the NSA people outside, Chuck.' she added, 'Go to their apartment for a couple of hours. I don't want Casey to hurt you when he wakes up.'

Chuck took the handset and went out. He spent the next 2 hours talking to Sarah, telling her about their insane day.

Sarah couldn't believe it. 'You never have a dull moment without me there, huh...'

'Now I think you're a bit jealous, Sarah, and you shouldn't.' Chuck was trying to employ the most soothing overtones of his voice, 'It wasn't that much fun for me,' he said, remembering the crazy siren of Casey's Vic No.2 and everything that ensued.

Carina checked on the legally blond chick, which was most probably some con artist. She was still sleeping. Calculating something in her mind she decided that it was time for Casey to wake up and went to see him.

No, he was still dreaming. She tried to wake him up, slapping him lightly.

It took another 30 minutes before he opened his eyes, however.

'Where am I? What is this place?' Casey felt like just coming back from World War II. Every muscle was stiff, hurting, he could hardly move.

Then he started to remember what had happened, piece by piece.

'Aaaargh, the Vic, ... Chuck!', he grimaced.

'Calm down Casey.' Carina's voice sounded very soothing. 'He bought you another Vic, limited, perfect condition. It's shining. Just calm down.'

Seeing that he remained unconvinced, she went on:

'Hey, you don't want me to report to Beckman your idiotic behavior? And this crazy car alarm of yours. Do you? Or your 'Beckman-wreckman-I-don't-care' comment, maybe?'

'What?' Casey couldn't even remember the last.

'Oh, you don't remember, of course.' Well, she had prepared for this.

She had the monitoring console in her hands, and it was exactly on these frames where he was saying it. She played them for him.

'Hmmm,' he grunted. 'OK, tell that moron to stay 5 miles away from the car.'

'OK, deal.' Carina sighed in relief, 'No more childish behavior, we have serious work ahead of us.'

'But before that you really must know something.' Carina went on. 'The new car is perfect, but it just needs a paint job.'

She went on telling him what happened after he was tranqed again. The crazy blond, the pizzeria. He just omitted mentioning that the girl saw Chuck flash and how important the target was. Just some local drug dealer, most probably, she guessed.

Finally, she asked, "Can I tell Chuck to get back here now and that you won't hurt him?'

Casey grunted affirmatively.

'Good boy!' she tapped him on his shoulder.

She jumped up and went to see if Chuck had finished talking to Sarah. Of course not, they were still talking, laughing at something. Carina signaled to him that it's time to finish and asked for the mobile.

"Let's get back to the suit, Chuck, I talked to Casey, it's safe.

'Somehow I'm not sure that's the case but I hope I'll be able to flash the kunf fu if he gets too aggressive.' he said without a trace of enthusiasm.

'Don't worry, it won't be necessary.' Carina assured him.

They came back into the suite. Casey was sitting on the couch in the living room now.

'Hello Casey,' Chuck started, saying good bye to his knee caps.

'Hi, Chuck, missed me?' Casey growled.

They were both feeling uncomfortable now.

Carina stared at Casey, signaling him something with her eyes.

'Listen Casey,' Chuck tried again, but the colonel stopped him.

It's OK, Chuck, it's my fault as well. I may have gone a little overboard with this alarm upgrade...hmm, I'll cover 50% of your expenses. Carina told me that you bought it and how much you'd paid.'

'It was actually my mistake' he finally offered his hand to Chuck.

Now shaking Chuck's hand, Casey went on. 'As long as you don't turn against the government I'll be here to protect you Chuck. As always. Semper Fi.'

"Sem-per fi, col-onel.' Chuck stuttered stunned.

He turned to Carina, asking her with his eyes.'How did you do that?

'Don't ask' she signaled with her lips.

'Well, Casey,' she said, 'Here are my car keys. Go home. We need some rest here. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out what to do with this pink enigma,' she threw a quick glance at the bedroom, 'tomorrow.'

Going through face databases, with facial recognition, comparing, would take hours, she thought.

'I'm going to sleep now.' she said to both Chuck and Casey, went into the bedroom and tried to sleep.

Xxx

Chuck was lying on the couch unable to sleep yet. What an insane day. Casey had finally left so he felt safe now.

His mobile buzzed. It was Ellie. He answered it immediately.

'Hey, sis, how is the honeymoon?'

'Chuck, we are coming back home, tomorrow evening, we'll be back there with you and Sarah', Ellie sounded so ecstatic.

'What, sis, why, what's going on?' Chuck frowned.

'I'm pregnant Chuck, get ready to be an awesome uncle. '

Xxx

Soon after Chuck fell asleep, Carina got up and took her secure mobile. She entered the bathroom and turned the lock. Then she dialed a number.

'Hey, I know, they told me about the flash.' Agent 20 got right to the point. 'It's going well so far. We have to change out plans. Accelerate. It's time to castle. Tomorrow, I'll talk to Walker. We are entering _Phase II_. How are things there?' he finally asked a question.

'Nothing worth mentioning.'Carina replied. Just wanted to know if they had told you about Chuck's flash. And that I need to get rid of Casey for the time being. So hurry up please.' Carina was triumphant. _Phase II_ !

'Yeah, that's absolutely true. Casey will come here for some time, and Sarah will be back there with you. … Ah, Sandra, there is one more thing you should know ….', Agent 20 went on for another 20 minutes.

Xxx

Special Agent Sarah Walker was again in front of the eye scanner, at the underground CIA facility at Langley. She passed the test, put her mask and entered. As usual, she walked along the hallway and entered the all-plastic conference room.

Strange. Only Agent 20 was there.

'Good morning,' Sarah greeted her new boss.

'Hello Sarah', Agent 20 smiled. 'How was your weekend?'

'Fine, just fine, 'Sarah said nervously. 'Where are the rest of the people of our team?'

'Everybody is working on his or her part of the operation, and so should you. Take you mask off.' Agent 20 said. 'Nobody here.'

'This is why we have to talk.' he went on. 'First, since the asset's involvement is now imminent, it is time to inform General Beckman about this op and keep her informed on these aspects that she needs to know about.

'Then, you'll have to …' They had a really tough and exhausting 5-hour conversation

xxx

It was 6,45 am. Carina opened her eyes. She would have preferred to sleep more but there was so much ahead. She knew that the legally blonde was still sleeping next to her as she had sedated her again. She didn't want a civilian who was most probably a con artist messing around before she tied some ends first.

She got up and went to check on Chuck. He was still sleeping.

Carina headed to the kitchen, turned the coffeemaker on and opened the window.

She laughed out loud. Yeah, Casey was already there next to the pink Vic. He stood there with a bucket and cloths, brushes, bottles of detergents, liquid soaps, waxes, whatnot. A lot of stuff has been scattered around the car.

He was kneeling there, watching her, caressing with a cloth, sometimes with his bare hands.

Carina knew what to do now. She had turned the video camera of her mobile and left it on the sill, pointed at Casey and rushed back to the living room where she had a high end camcorder. She took it and got back into the kitchen. The show was so worth to be taped.

She let both the camcorder and the mobile recording and got back to the living room.

'Chuck, wake up.' she started tapping him on the shoulder.

Mmmmm, what's up Carina, what's the time? He was opening his eyes now.

'Get up, it's 7 am, go to the kitchen, see Casey with the car. He loved her. Can you imagine?' She winked at him.

'Just don't touch my cameras. They are recording.'

Chuck was at the kitchen window now and couldn't believe his eyes. Casey looked so smitten with the Vic, even if it was looking so not "Casey-ish". What he was doing looked more like a love ritual than car wash. He was still kneeling and caressing her there.

He finally got up and saw Chuck watching him from the hotel, Casey waved at him and gave him the thumbs up. A friendly Casey. That was incredible!

Chuck did the same, still unbelieving. Did Casey finally start growing a soul? He decided to go down there and talk to him. Witness for himself this magnificent transformation. History was made today, that was for sure.

He was back in the living room where he bumped into Carina.

'Where you heading?' She asked.

'I wanna talk to Casey. This is an amazing piece of evolution. What could have caused it?' Chuck seemed really anxious.

'Well, maybe too much tranquilizer finally did some good to his brain matter, who knows.' Carina laughed.

'If that's indeed the cause for this beautiful change, good work agent Falcone,' Chuck allowed, in total disbelief that he would approve of her methods.

He was now down there, striding toward Casey and his new beloved. The colonel had again knelt down on his left knee, pressed to the car, riveted by her clean lines.

Chuck threw a quick glance inside the car. Was that a notepad there? It looked like a poem, written on it.

'Well, Casey, I'm really glad you liked it. The paint job isn't that bad, is it?' Chuck sounded really excited.

'What do you mean Chuck, 'not bad'? It's beautiful.' Casey protested. 'It radiates such innocence, such grace.'

'Chuck,' Casey went on, 'can I share something with you?'

'Sure, Casey, that's what friends are for,' Chuck felt so heart-warmed, anticipating another 'Ilsa' moment. He remembered Casey opening to him about his tragic love.

'I'm not angry at you anymore for the Vic', Casey whispered in his ear, 'I wouldn't have met Vicky, you know.'

'Who's Vicky?' Chuck knitted his brows, 'Have I met her before?'

Casey was staring at him, with some desperation, signaling him with his eyes, pointing at the car.

Oh, you mean Vicky,' Chuck looked at the car, 'of course, Vicky. Well, it was a pleasure to ...'

Ha-ha-ha,' Casey had just burst into a powerful laughter, 'gotcha Chuck! Do you really think a bucket of pink paint and a bunch of flowers will melt an NSA colonel, hardened in battles at Tora-Bora and Falluja?'

Chuck's head hung. 'Good, Casey, Air force humor,' he gritted.

The colonel was still laughing loud, waving his hands.

He finally went on, 'Well now we are even, aren't we? That was for the emotional distress you caused. Frankly, soldier, I like the pink, but not as much as your lady feelings led you to think. I have to repaint it now, you understand that, dontcha?'

'I'll survive,' Chuck said, turned around and strolled back to the hotel without saying anything.

Carina had watched the whole scene from the kitchen window. She raised her hand and said to the microphone in her watch: 'Good job, Casey, that'll teach him another lesson.'

Chuck saw her at the window. She waved at him smiling.

'Well? How was it?' she shouted at him.

'Ohhh, it was you who put on this show, right?' he shouted back.

She nodded affirmatively.

Chuck sighed and entered the hotel. When he reached the suite Carina opened the door. She was waiting for him there.

'It was a bit cruel, don't you think?' he started unenthusiastically.

'Yeah,' she sighed, 'I know.' You need some tough love for a change. I'm not Sarah, you know. You are still too soft for the world you chose to enter, do you realize that?"

'Maybe', he allowed. He wasn't sure know.

'I need some coffee' he said and headed to the kitchen.

Carina's gaze was following him now. Bryce Larkin had popped up in her head some time ago. "_Good job! The kid needs to realize that this isn't for him. You need to get to his father and have him remove the intersect from his head. He's not cut out for the cloak and dagger world.'_

"He's not a kid anymore, Bryce!' Sandra snapped back at him. 'Let him decide his own fate. All I can do is remind him what to expect."

Carina shook her head. Larkin was gone.

xxx


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Well, several members wanted to to know more about Agent 20. Unfortunately, as I said from the very beginning, this is intelligence centered story, so whatever I choose to say more about him now would reveal too much at this point.

Again thanks for the interest. I strongly suspect there is still some fun ahead, especially in chapters 8 and 9 from those that are ready so far. Chapter 7 displays another side of Carina's tremendous agent skills. And Chapter 6 ... well, here it is:

**Chapter VI**

**Don't You Half-lie To Me!**

Carina followed Chuck into the kitchen. He was sitting at the table, sipping some coffee. Engulfed by his own thoughts. Not happy ones, she could see that.

Then he looked at his wristwatch and said, "Oh my god, Ellie and Devon are coming back today."

Yeah, Carina knew about that. She was informed by the NSA team, protecting them.

_Another, 3-member counter-surveillance group, was tracking the hostile snatching team._

They could easily take these people out. But they were just thugs for hire. Carina needed to know who had hired them. It was somebody who had taken every precaution to hide his identity.

They were still unable to track down the mastermind.

'Yeah, I'll come with you there to the airport,' Carina said, 'NSA people will escort us as well.'

"How are you gonna introduce me to your sister, Chuck?' she nudged him, 'As your new girlfriend, maybe?' She gave him a naughty look.

Chuck was shaking his head, 'No, no, no, I don't think this will bode well with my sister, especially now that she is pregnant. You know she is pregnant, don't you?'

'Of course, we had a team there protecting them.' Carina smiled. 'I know how to do my job.'

'Well, let's tell her that you're just Sarah's best friend from her school years who has come to see her.' Chuck offered. 'Since Sarah is away I'm taking care of you, showing you around until she's back.

'_Do you know when Sarah is coming back, Carina?'_ it had occurred to him to ask. And so he did.

_No, I don't, but I expect to be relatively soon,' _Carina half-lied.

And it happened again. Chuck flashed, and the lie detector computer program announced it as usual: "Half-truth, half-lie'.

From her answer Chuck quickly figured out which part was the lie this time. _Carina clearly knew when Sarah was coming back._

Unfortunately for Chuck, Carina happened to have been watching him at the very time he flashed. It was obvious to her that it was some kind of a flash. It was very short.

'What, what happened?' she inquired, shaking his shoulders, 'What did you flash on, Chuck?'

Uuum, …. aaaaah, eeerm, I don't know..' Chuck was stuttering. He realized however, that he'd been caught red-handed this time.

"Chuck,' Carina yelled at him now. 'I have to know what this is. I'm a trained interrogator, and will find out if you lie to me. So what is it?'

Chuck wasn't going to lie to her, however. He already sensed that somehow Carina was on his side, especially on the big issues, regardless of her sometimes outrageous stunts.

"Carina, why are you lying to me from time to time? I can now sense when you tell me half lies.' He was pointing his index finger to his head. "I have this ability now. And thanks to your 'sincerity', I flash pretty often."

'Ohhh, that's what it was. .... Another ability .... Wow.' She exhaled quietly, 'So, tell me how it works.'

'No, you first. Why did you lie to me about Sarah?' Chuck insisted, 'Remember, I was supposed to trust you 100%, but you have to trust me 100%. So you tell first.' he blurted out.

"Why are you hiding from me that you know when Sarah will be coming back?' Chuck enunciated at every single word.

"Ugh, ok,' Carina was so annoyed now. 'I know about Sarah. She will be coming back tomorrow, Casey will go to Washington. To get briefed on his part of the mission. Happy?'

"Now, your turn.' She winked at him. 'What is it and how does it work?'

Chuck told her about the lie detector program, that was able to detect only half-lies so far.

'Ooh,' Carina was stunned now, 'Great.' She was contemplating the consequences. Great. This is just soooo great.

'Chuck,' she reprimanded him, 'you should've let me know about it immediately, is that clear? What were you thinking?'

The last part reminded him of Sarah who had used the same words so many times, scolding him.

'Yeah, but how can you expect me to tell you such a thing when you're lying to me, well, half-lying, remember?' he tried to excuse himself.

'Uff, it's not important what I'm telling you, if I lie or half-lie, it's better that way. The important thing is that we can use that new ability of yours.'

'Remember,' she went on, 'you are a government issue, like it or not. You chose to upload the Intersect yourself. And I am your handler now. So, you should behave a bit more responsibly. At least until the dust settles. .....Well?' she asked finally.

'Well what?' Chuck asked back.

'Did you flash on any half lies here in what I just told you? And if you don't, then write it down, read it again and stick to it.' she shot out angrily.

Chuck was watching her now, thinking. Then he smiled at her.

'What,' she asked, 'why are you smiling at me?' She was still angry with him.

"That was actually a good conversation, even though you were scolding at me most of the time.' he said firmly, 'Now I feel really relieved because I know I can trust you on the big issues. I didn't flash here.' He pointed at his head again.

'Meanwhile,' he continued, 'you can go on with your little games, super agent, but soon, very soon I'm gonna take over and look after Sarah and myself and do my job.' He sounded even slightly intimidating, probably because he was angry as well.

'Good,' she countered. They were standing against each other with about two inches between their faces. 'I can live with that Agent Carmichael! Last time I checked, we are not married, so I finish my job in a couple of weeks max and we part our ways.... Right?'

Casey had just entered – he obviously had heard part of this conversation.

'Wow,' he smirked. 'Married, huh? Do I sense some tension here? Sexual maybe?'

"Shut up Casey! Both Chuck and Carina had turned and yelled that at him. "Get out of here!'

Casey raised his brows, allowed a "Hmm", turned around and left, snickering. 'That'd be the second most annoying romance in my life. Walker's still the champion.'

They were still staring at each other.

"Well, thanks again for finally telling me about your new ability,' she shot at him. 'After I caught you red-handed.'

"Carina,' Chuck licked his lips, as he was clearly very nervous, 'how do you know exactly when Sarah will be back and that Casey will be summoned to DC? What is going on here?"

"It's above you pay grade…. Well, did you flash on that? Being a lie?' she challenged him.

'Half-lie, I flash only on half-lies.' And how is this above my pay grade?

'Easy, you don't work now. No pay. Zero. So even without giving you further explanation, it's obviously a truth.', she said quickly. 'See, I win.', she said smiling at him and raising her hand sidewards.

'Now, let's go and see if Miss Witherspoon had woken up.' she went on. 'We still have her here, remember?'

'That won't be necessary.' somebody said.

Carina and Chuck both turned their heads.

Yeah, it was her. Cornelia had been listening their tense exchange for some time, standing at the door with her hands crossed on the chest. "You sound like my mom and dad before they split up, you know that, agents ..... super agents ..... whatever.' She said.

'Good tip,' Chuck said. 'That'll save us some unnecessary torture.'

'I concur,' Carina smiled at him. Then she turned toward Cornelia. 'And you are under arrest. For the time being."

'I know my rights.' Cornelia countered. "You can't do that

'Wierd,' Chuck thought, ' Cornelia didn't sound like an Elle Woods fan and impersonator now. Why would you ...' he started.

'I'm sure you do,' Carina shot at her, ignoring Chuck. " With your mom in jail, for several con jobs, I guess you've learned enough about law, at least the criminal side of it, right? Anna, Lisa?' Carina cocked her head, now smiling at the blonde.

Cornelia's eyes were now wide open. So were Chuck's.

'What? She's a con artist?' he exclaimed.

'That was a little rude and somewhat unbecoming for a gentleman like you.' Cora/Anna/Lisa observed, giving him a playful look. 'I prefer to think of myself simply as an artist.'

'Did you really think I wasn't gonna check on you?' Carina went on, ignoring her comments to Chuck.

'I've already attached a GPS tracker to your ankle, if you haven't noticed?'

'Yes. I have.' Lisa, as this was her real name, lied but didn't look down to check. Yeah, she was feeling it now.

'Stay put here if you don't want me to call the Alabama police. I'm sure they'll find the right witnesses to put you in jail for this little ruse of yours there. You must've already heard how merciful Alabama justice can be.'

Lisa's eyes were now wide open, she sat down in an arm-chair without saying anything.

'Good,' Carina went on, 'I hope I finally have your attention.'

Xxx

Early in the afternoon Sarah Walker knocked on General Beckman's door. She had a briefcase, in her right hand. It was chained to her hand.

The general's secretary let Sarah in the waiting room and 15 minutes later she went into Beckman's private office.

'Good afternoon, agent Walker, finally!' Beckman seemed very content now.

Good afternoon, general. Sarah smiled back."As I expected, this is the documentation of 'Operation Natanz'. It is for your eyes only. I've been told that your office has just been swept for bugs, right? .... Another agent will have to take it back to my boss in about 3 hours.'

'Of course, sure, take a seat, please.' Beckman waited for Sarah to unlock the briefcase and hand her the folder.

One of the first documents she saw there was an order for Casey to get back to Washington. Immediately. As part of the Bartowski operation he was now getting incorporated into this new project.

'And for the time being?' Beckman asked. 'Who is gonna provide close protection to the asset,' Beckman inquired. "Only agent Falcone?'

'No, I'm going back to LA now. I got my part of the mission here. Everything's already in place on my side.' Sarah smiled.

_'Going back to LA! Yes!'_

Xxx

Colonel Casey was looking for a car shop in the ad section of some auto magazine. The spy in him couldn't trust anybody so far with the delicate task ahead – refurbishing his new Vic into something much less feminine.

He was just about to start calling them one by one, just to get a feeling which one he could trust when his phone rang. It was general Beckman.

"General?' Casey started, wondering what could be the reason.

'Colonel Casey, you are ordered to come back to Washington." She said firmly, in anticipation of his reaction.

"But General, who is going to provide close protection of the asset except agent Falcone? According to the new protocol at least 2 have to be close to him unless there is a whole security team … '

'I'm aware of what the new protocol requires,' she interrupted, annoyed to the extreme.

She was the one who had approved it. She was just so irritated that they had kept her out of the loop. But she knew this was standard practice. She was part of other black ops and had seen how people with higher ranks than hers at the time had gotten so pissed off.

'Agent Walker is coming back. Her job here is done. She's probably driving to the airport now. The asset is to be involved in a major international operation and you need to be briefed and take part in the planning of the details of your part. Here, in DC.'

'You should take the first flight to Washington, understood?''

Casey could sense her brow was high up now, even if they were just on the phone so he knew there was no point in protesting.

'Understood, general, first flight.'

The line was off before he could finish. Casey sighed deeply. He wouldn't be able to fix his new car now. At least he'd leave it there in the hotel parking lot, not at his place.'

He called the airport to check for the earliest flight and started packing.

xxx


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter VII**

**Seventy-Five!**

The time difference between the arrival of Ellie and Devon from the Hawaii and Sarah's from Washington was a little over 40 minutes.

They had coincided as Ellie and Devon's flight had been postponed for the next day. The airline didn't give them any explanation as during a routine check after the landing they had found a technical problem that needed to be fixed.

Chuck, Carina and Lisa were now driving to the airport to pick all of them.

Carina and Lisa were driving ahead in Ellie's car, behind them, Chuck and two NSA people. A third car with more agents was somewhere behind them.

'Why is the con artist coming with us, Carina?' Chuck had asked, once they were about to set off.

'I can't leave her there alone, Chuck.' Carina replied with some irritation. 'She had eluded the police in several states for years. I can't take any chances with her."

"But she has this GPS track now, so...." Chuck wondered.

'Yeah, yeah, do you have any ideas how many ways there are, to deal with that?' she asked. 'You can start delving into the Intersect about that.'

Carina and Lisa didn't stay silent for too long once they had gotten into the car.

'Well,' Lisa started, 'Now what? Am I gonna be your babysitter for the rest of my life?'

'You're not helping yourself with that kind of attitude, missy.' Carina snapped at her. She pulled her mobile out, picked a number, and then showed it to Lisa.

'See that number? It's the detective division of the Alabama PD, in Birmingham. You want me to arrange a nice little rendezvous for them? With you, I mean?'

Lisa was thinking. 'You're bluffing.'

She knew Carina wanted something from her. She wasn't prepared to give up her independence. She could still see some options to get out of this ahead of her. She had eluded the authorities so many times.

'OK,' an emotionless Carina said and pressed 'connect'.

The mobile was on speakers so Lisa could hear the beginning of the conversation.

'Birmingham PD, Alabama, detective division, how can I help you?' she heard a pleasant female voice saying.

'My name is Fionna McKinley,' Carina had started, 'federal agent, DEA, please check it out with the local DEA representative before we go on.'

There was a silence for a couple of minutes, then the female voice said, 'Yes, Agent McKinley, how can I help you?'

'I need to talk to the head of your division, immediately.' Carina went on. She was watching the road ahead of her but could see with her peripheral how desperately Lisa was waving at her to stop.

She turned at her. 'Well, do I have your attention now?'

'OK, OK, ... what do you want?' Lisa was pouting on the outside, but was very worried now. She was just very good at hiding it.

Carina disconnected the mobile. "I'm warning you. This was your last opportunity to prevent my conversation with Alabama. Next time I'll be talking to them no matter what. You got that?' She sounded properly annoyed and menacing, she hoped.

'Yeah, what do you want from me, agent …?', Lisa hesitated.

'Carina. For you, I'm just Carina. When there are other people around I'll be agent Falcone. Within the DEA my name is Fionna McKinley, but this is a different business I'm into now.'

'For starters, tell me about your cons. What's with the pink club? You collect fees, what else, sell "original, ... authentic" merchandise?'

'Yeah, something like that,' Lisa admitted.

How many other cons? A _Superman_ fan club?

'No, _Spiderman_ is so hot now. Was.' Lisa sighed. _Star wars_, as always.

'OK, how much you conned so far?'

'I'm still new at this,' Lisa lied, 'about seventy-five grand.'

Carina took her cell again and dialed a number.

'No, no stop that, I'll tell you,' Lisa shouted, 'I have about 700,000 there, and three more accounts. Similar amounts!' She shouted. 'Stop it!'

Carina was still waiting on the phone.

'Wouldn't you turn it off now?' Lisa was yelling at her. "That was the truth, I swear!"

'I'm not calling Alabama.' Carina said.

"Hi dear, yeah do it now.' she said on the phone. 'Seventy-five. Yeah, just seventy-five. Over.' She hung up.

'What is this now,' Lisa inquired.

'Wait a bit, actually about 15 minutes, and you'll see. You'll like it,' Carina offered her an icy smile.

Carina already knew one of Lisa's bank accounts numbers but hadn't even tried to hack it. Even if she could, she would have left traces. She knew her limitations.

She didn't have to do it herself, however.

She had Dave, one of her NSA geek lovers. He assured her that he can withdraw all of Lisa's money and then return them back without being detected. The NSA had Trojan horses inside every government and bank institution servers but could use them only for official investigations, under court order.

Well, that's why Carina seduced Dave. He had written many of those Trojans and as every IT engineer had his own private back doors in those. Furthermore, the protocol required to check their vitality on regular basis. So it was a child play for him to do it.

15 minutes later Carina turned again to Lisa:

'See this laptop there on the back seat? Take it.' Carina ordered. 'Take it, take it, no need to be so shy.'

Lisa did it without further hesitating.

'Now open you bank account, the one where I sent you the money for the Vic." Carina said.

'Are you crazy? You want me to log here my name and password.' Lisa sounded really annoyed now. 'Do you really think I'm so stupid?'

'No, I don't. But I already know your name and password, dear. Type.' Carina pronounced slowly her name and password for her BoA account.

Lisa's eyes were wide open. 'How do you know that?

"Just open and see how much you have there now. I have a surprise for you.' Carina said, ignoring her outrage.

Lisa typed something and then clicked on the touchpad.

"Impossible," she exclaimed. 75 dollars. I have a total of 75 …., you said sometime ago on the phone that number. 75.'

No, you said 75 before that, when you were lying to me. That's why I left you with 75. Check your other accounts.'

Lisa was typing now faster than Carina had ever been able to.

'Wow,' Carina exclaimed. 'Your are one quite capable Reese Witherspoon with the computer. Have you, by any chance, been a nerd or something while at school?'

'Now, that's not any of your business.' Lisa snapped.

'Yeah, right.' Carina was shaking her head. 'None of my business.'

Lisa couldn't believe her eyes. In each of her other accounts there were only 75 dollars now.

She had already expected something like that after the first account but just hadn't wanted to believe it. But it was a fact of life now.

'OK, Carina, what do you want from me?' Lisa licked her lips, her voice was trembling.

'Do I have your full attention now, missy?' Carina started.

'Yeah, you know very well you do.' Lisa sighed deeply, still unwilling to accept the new reality.

'OK. What you saw at the restaurant is top secret. Very top secret. As a government agent I have two options. To hand you over to the department of justice so they decide what to do with you. But then they'll check your history, your con history, and use it against you. They may even decide to use it to send you in jail in order to keep your mouth shut there. In some very, very high security facility.' Carina waited for about 15 seconds.

'Are you interested in this option, so I go on with it?' Carina had continued.

'You know I'm not. What's the other option.' Lisa said nervously.

'The other legal possibility is what happened to me when I was younger than you – ... become an undercover government agent.'

'Thus,' she went on, 'the secret you learned will become part of your job. I can arrange that, I already talked with my boss about you. He agrees that we can try you. But he trusts my judgment on people and since I'll be training you, I'll be the one who'll have the final word.'

'And if I'm no good for this job?' Lisa inquired. 'What happens to me then?'

'The most important skill for an undercover agent is to act. Better than an actor actually. Actors have the time to prepare for a role, practice, etc. Oftentimes, we have less than a second to act out a role. It's the same a very good con artist does.... As you well know.'

She waited again for a minute, then added, 'Don't worry, I've already seen you in action. You're a natural. And very beautiful. After all this is very important for female agents, like it or not.

'Does it mean I'll have to sleep with people I don't like?' Lisa grimaced.

"Not necessarily, don't worry. For the department I'm recruiting you, that's not necessary.'

'And how can I trust you on all this?" Lisa went on, still hesitant.

"You can't, but you have no choice. With time, when you see that I keep my end of the bargain, you'll start trusting me. Any other questions?'

Lisa was thinking.

'How much time do I have to give you an answer?' she finally asked.

From the way Lisa was speaking now, Carina could see she was serious and not playing games. She had left her with virtually no choice, but that's how it was so often in the spy world.

She really loved that question. She, herself, had asked for time when they had offered her. Although she had already decided.

Lisa had virtually no choice, but still asked for time. She was a natural. Carina whistled in her head. Jackpot!

'When they offered me to join,' Carina had decided to open up a bit, 'I could choose when to give them an answer. I already knew I'd accept, but promised to tell them in a week. So I could carefully think it through.'

Carina looked at her watch.

'We'll be at the airport in about 25 minutes. So you have 25 minutes. Sorry, that life is a bit harder on you here. Don't rush with your answer. Think it through. Carefully.'

'C'mon, you know that I simply have no choice, Carina. Not in this case. I accept. When does my training start?'

Carina didn't answer that. She was watching the road ahead of her.

'Oh, of course, it had already started, right?' Lisa shook her head. 'All that was lesson one. Recruitment. How could I miss that?'

Carina smiled and turned toward her. 'See? I told you you're gonna be good at this."

'First, you shouldn't worry about your money.' Carina said.

She picked her phone typed some text and sent it.

You can check your bank accounts in 15 minutes again. Once you get into this undercover agent business, you'll realize what opportunities it offers you. Your con jobs are good only for the teen crowd.'

Lisa wasn't surprised at anything anymore. She had already seen that another world had opened up before her. 'Jackpot for me,' she smiled inside.

15 minutes later Lisa opened her first bank account. There were only seventy-five thousand dollars now.

'You promised …' She started.

"I didn't say I'll return all your money now. I still need to trust you fully first. The rest of your money will be very safe and sound for the time being, believe me,' she said thinking of her stockbroker. 'The 14 thousand I paid you for the Vic – consider them your first personal bonus from me.'

'Is this how it will be between you and me,' Lisa continued, agitated, 'you pushing me around all the time?'

'No, of course not.' Carina replied, trying to sound reassuring. 'First, I'm not that kind of person, and second I can see you are a strong personality, so it will never work. I need a partner, not a pawn. Don't worry about that. We're just too early in the game.'

Lisa was silent now.

'I saw you family history by the way.' Carina went on. 'Interesting. Once we arrive at the airport, there will be another really big surprise.' Carina smiled at her. 'Your mission is to play along and not give away anything from our conversation or that you're now my agent, I mean under my direct supervision, understood? Leave it to me to introduce you to Chuck.'

Carina sounded really ominous now. 'I already have an idea how to use you in some important government business but it's absolutely crucial that nobody knows you're part of my operation. You'll be gradually introduced to different part of it."

'OK, I have no problem with that.' Lisa said. '_By the way, I already know who you are picking up from the airport_.' She said with an impish grin, watching how Carina would react.

'Oh, and who would that be?' Carina said, casually, but she could bet that Lisa did know.

'It's my cousin but you know that since you checked my history. And then Lisa said Sarah Walker's real name.

'I thought she was working for some international bank. But now it's obvious. With you and Chuck around, I can imagine ..... what international bank she is with.'

_'I still can't believe it, ... uncle Jack's girl, .... a government agent.'_ Lisa shook her head.

'How did you find out" Carina asked and thought, "_Wow, she is good, and that fast.'_

'I lifted Chuck's mobile. Saw her picture there among other things. In a frame, with all these hearts. Read some of the messages. He is her boyfriend?'

'Yeah,' Carina nodded, 'that's how it is between those two. But listen. No more spying on Chuck. He is off-limits for you, understood?'

'Why, because of this database in his head.' Lisa asked innocently. What kind of freak show is this anyway? She had wondered about that ever since she had seen Chuck flash and blurt out.

'Yeah, something like that. This information is government property. Don't play with fire. There is a career ahead of you now, that will open all sorts of doors for you. Don't risk that, .... and your entire life, for something that's not worth it. OK?.

'OK,' said Lisa."Don't worry about that.'

'I still can't trust you, you must know that.' Carina said. 'If I find out that you play some funny game, you're finished. I'm sorry to be that blunt but that's how it is. You should blame yourself. I already took you DNA, so you are already in our database. You won't' be able to hide for long.'

Ten minutes later Carina was parking the car at one of the airport's parking lots.

They had gotten out of the car, stretching, when Chuck and the NSA agents arrived.

Once Chuck joined them, Carina started:

'Chuck I have two great news for you.' Carina smiled at him.'First, Cornelia/Lisa happens to be related to Sarah, cousins.'

"Oh my god, really? You? The con ..." Chuck couldn't believe.

Lisa nodded. 'Small world, isn't it. Jack and my mom are brother and sister. She and uncle Jack have been in the con business since children. Their father, you know. It seems to be in our blood. You know Jack?"

'Yeah, .... yeah, I met him once, here. We ..... umm, pulled a Lichtenstein, if you know what I mean. Well, it was a part of an operation, ... or sort of.' Chuck blushed at the thought that he was part of a con.

'Hahaha, good for you,' Lisa laughed out. 'A Lichtenstein! And how did it turn out?'

'I don't wanna remember, to tell you frankly,' Chuck knitted his brows. 'Not a good story in my book.'

They were now in the arrival lobby, waiting for Sarah to come out.

"Stay with your back facing the gate, so we surprise Sarah,' Carina suggested.

'Yeah, good thinking.' Lisa replied, smirking.

'Ah, the second news.' Carina said to Chuck. 'I talked to my DEA bosses and they agreed to offer her to work for the government. She'll be taking a course at Quantico soon. For now, she is with me, something like an intern.'

'This is the only way to avoid her detention' she went on ' ... for undetermined period of time, until the government and the lawyers decide what to do with her. None of us wants that, right?

'Consider her a rookie field agent, she'll be helping us.'

'Wow, ... wow, that's a really great news, congratulations Lisa.' Chuck wanted to shake her hands, or hug her, it didn't become very clear from his awkward gesture.

Lisa leaned toward Chuck and hugged him saying, "Thank you, agent ... Carmichael."

'Wow,' Chuck said while hugging her, 'You remember my agent name. Good." He gave her the thumbs up.

"Occupational hazard. I have to memorize every detail. It's part of my job. Was. Like a name, or a specific distance from a door, orrrrrr ... which pocket your wallet is in.'

Lisa stepped backward and raised her left hand. Chuck could see his wallet there.

'Aaah, con humor, got it.' Chuck smirked approvingly. 'You uncle pulled that on me. Now my DNA test analyzer confirmed to me – Ding, you and Jack are indeed relatives, 99.99% "positive".

'Wow,' it was now Lisa's turn to exclaim, 'is that how you fight the enemy, agent Carmichael? Charm them to death?'

Carina was sending her a really icy look. O-f-f l-i-m-i-t-s she signaled with her lips.

Lisa rolled her eyes. Well not on the outside, just inside her head as she was stepping backwards.

Sarah had popped out of the gate 20 seconds ago. The first thing she saw 30 feet away of her was a young athletic blonde hugging somebody. Somebody with a curly hair, forming unique shapes. Shapes that she happened to know so well. It was Chuck … her Chuck.

He saw her, smiled, raising her brows and waved at her. 'Heey, Sarah, there is a really big surprise for you!' He said full of excitement.

_'Mission accomplished, Chuck. Now guess if I liked it.'_

Lisa was still talking or pretending to talk to Carina, with her back facing Sarah.

'Guess who the crazy Reese Witherspoon impersonator turned out to be. Remember, ... last night, ... I told you about her.' he said.

At this moment Lisa turned around, smiled to Sarah and said, 'Hello cousin, missed me?'

Sarah had dropped her suitcase out of surprise. Her eyes were wide open, jaw was trying to hit the floor.

'Lisa, you were this girl with the Vic?' she was still unable to get her jaw back.

"I have to pay my bills, you know.' Lisa stepped forward to hug her.

'How is your international banking business, huh?' She shot back. 'You could have called and helped us one way or another."

'Hey,' Carina interjected before this conversation went any more awkward, 'let's go eat something.'

'Ellie and Devon will be out in about 30 minutes,' Chuck announced. 'We have some time to kill. Let's get a pizza, coffee, shall we?

They were all hungry so they headed to the nearest diner.

'Sarah and I have some business to discuss,' Carina said, staring at Walker. 'We'll be joining you inside in a couple of minutes, OK?'

Chuck and Lisa entered the diner, talking about something. Carina watched around to make sure nobody could hear them.

'So, you are fully briefed now, right?'

Sarah nodded. 'Yeah,' she said very quietly.

'Well, we have … ' Carina had started again.

xxx


	8. Chapter 8

Special thanks to NickyR for her priceless advice, ideas and editing..

**Chapter VIII**

**Family Time, Quality Time**

The entire group had arrived at Casa Bartowski several minutes ago.

Ellie and Devon's plane had landed without delay and Ellie had immediately announced that there will be a party in the evening. There was so much to celebrate after all.

Now, Carina, Sarah, and Lisa went into Casey's flat and Chuck stayed with Devon and Ellie.

Once Ellie went into their bedroom to unpack, Devon dragged Chuck to his bedroom, looked around and asked, 'Hey bro how is the spy world? Anything new, exciting there?'

'What happened while I was away? Did you kick some …?' Devon was unable to stop.

'Ah, it's not what you think Devon. Action non-stop? Noo,' Chuck shook his head, ' ... I don't think so. It's not that exciting, ... or glamorous, or ... sexy. You don't fight and kick five or six black ninjas every day.'

'Wow, Chuck, you can do that?' Devon exclaimed, 'awesome bro, that is just so awesome.'

'Can you teach me some moves, some karate stuff?' Devon sounded really excited. 'Remember, I taught you how to tango last year? Time for some quid pro quo, bro.'

Now it finally dawned on Devon. 'Wow, you needed the tango for some spy mission, right?'

'Oh, no Devon, I mean yes, it was a mission, but I'm not into this, ... you know. I'm more like an analyst.' he was gesticulating desperately to somehow define how an analyst would differ from the James Bond stuff. 'Dealing with networks and server security.' Chuck couldn't believe that he still had to lie even to Devon. Well, half-lie.

_'Aaaah,'_ he exclaimed to himself, _'if he used to lie or half-lie to Ellie and Devon all the time, what moral right did he have to judge Carina for half-lying to him? After all, he didn't know her reasons. Hm.' _

'Oh, c'mon Chuck,' Devon simply wouldn't let it go, 'I saw you all in action, remember? I punched Casey in the face, as hard as I could.' Devon showed him how he had done it.'

'And he took it like some mosquito had bitten him, bro, can you believe that?' he added, getting more and more excited.

'I can Devon. I can. I've seen him in action at least once a week, give or take.' Chuck had a very bad feeling where this was going.

'Oh, yeah, and then, you and Sarah came out of nowhere ... and dude, that was awesome, ... she dropped him just like that. Up there in the head, dropping him with a single kick? ... I knew Sarah was versatile, but _that_ versatile? Sheesh.' he was shaking his head."

"I can imagine how versatile she is in …' Devon was winking and mimicking something to Chuck, pointing his eyes toward Chuck's bed, 'you know what I mean, bro, dontcha?'

'Come to think of it, I know now' Chuck thought. Yeah, she was very versatile indeed, that was a scientifically proven fact now. At least in Chuck's book.

But Devon's voice was too loud now, making Chuck really nervous.

"Devon, you should calm down now, what if Ellie hears this?' Chuck whispered grimacing.

Devon nodded, and had started asking another question, whispering this time, but at this very moment Ellie knocked and opened Chuck's door.

'Ah, there you are,' she was looking at them. Knowing both so well, she immediately smelled that something was wrong.

'What, ... what are you two doing here?' she was bombarding them with her quite inquisitive look.

Both started stammering something unintelligible.

'Oh, my God,' she exclaimed, 'you are in some sort of collusion, aren't you? ...Gotcha! ... You are not leaving this room without telling me.' she said with an impish grin and leaned against the door.

'I'm all ears, ... who's first?' she went on. 'Dish, .... dish.'

'Ah, sis ... just be patient,' Chuck was first to recover, 'it's a surprise.'

'Well,' Ellie inquired, 'I'm perfectly ready for your surprise,' her statement was totally supported by her face expression. 'And so is the latest of the Bartowski species' she added, pointing at her belly.

'Uummm, that's not how it works ... sis, ' Chuck started, having no idea what the surprise would be,'you announced a party tonight, remember? Uh, I'll tell you then. I promise.'

'Well, it's already evening, the party's in 30 minutes, I'm all ears.' Ellie was adamant.

'No, no, no,' Chuck was so panicked inside. 'At the party ...sis ... at the party.'

Now Devon, having gathered some courage from who knows where, tried his magic.

'Babe, please, let him announce it at the party,' he started. He had approached Ellie, actually pressing his body against hers. 'Mmmm, new perfume, I approve,' he lied, 'where have you been hiding this treasure…'

"Gross, Devon, that is so gross!' Ellie yelled. 'Trying to seduce me into letting Chuck get away?' She was rolling her eyes. "How old are you two? Thirteen?'

She had already realized that they weren't telling her anything voluntarily, so she decided to change the tactics.

'I got it!' She exclaimed.

'What?' both Chuck and Devon asked.

'What is it, sis?'

'Aaaah …,' Ellie was still wondering. She was so obsessed with her pregnancy now that she could think only about it. 'Sarah is pregnant, too?' she tried.

'No, …. no,' Chuck was shaking his head, 'I'm positive about that. My answer is negative, ..... aaah, 100%,' he struggled, realizing that he actually couldn't be positive about that right now.

'They use protection baby, ... calm down.' Devon interjected again."Right, Chuck?'

Chuck was cursing him in his head, '_you're not helping Devon!_"

'And how do you know it,' Ellie pressed him further. 'That she isn't pregnant, I mean?'

'Umm, … because I know what it actually is, ... the surprise.' Chuck got it finally. 'And it's not that.'

'Hm, …. okay,' Ellie's confidence had disappeared.

She was still blocking his escape route through the door so he started stepping backwards, toward the Morgan door.

'Stop,' she yelled, 'I got it this time, Chuck!'

'What, …what now?'

Um, 'Ellie winked at him.' You have a surprise announcement to make, right?' She was still winking and nodding at him.

'Oh, …. Chuck was just about to deny that but Devon, who was behind Ellie now, was waving in all possible ways, trying to say, 'play along, idiot!'.

And so did Chuck:

'Aaaah, you are one very smart sis, Ellie, but I'm not in a position to either confirm or deny it, bye now,' Chuck said as he was jumping over the Morgan door. "Wait for the party, ha-ha!' he said, rushing away.

'Oh, boy, that was close.' he thought. He had reached the fountain and sat on its edge there.

He was breathing deep now, with his eyes closed, desperately trying to gather his thoughts.

Good that Ellie hadn't heard them. He would think of some stupid surprise later. He needed to talk to Sarah about this.

Chuck had opened his eyes and was about to walk toward Casey's apartment as he needed to see Sarah asap.

And then he opened his eyes and saw it. _Image Impossible_.

'What the ….?' He exclaimed.

xxx

Carina and Lisa were straggling toward him, leaning on each other. They sure needed that. Each was holding a glass, half-full of some red liquid. In her other hand, Carina had a bottle of some red wine.

'Hi Chuck-y, Casey's sec-ret sta-sh.' She slurred. 'S-o-f Afric-a...' she hiccupped here, -an Cabern-et. '

'Bull..', Lisa countered. 'As 'said, agin' Fizzione, ...t'is merlot, I smell merlot thirteen thous - and ...'mean hundred, thirteen …, Lisa wasn't able to continue. They were zigzagging left and right.

'Chucky, Chucky, dear,' Carina offered him her glass, 'tell Rooki-ela,' she hiccuped again, 'thisss caber-..net.'

'Ladies, Ladies, you are …. uuum'' Chuck started.

'A bit tip –sy, yep, that's rrrright mis ... misss-ter Geek,' Lisa staggered to the left, dragging Carina with her.

'It's more like 'drunken sailors,' Chuck thought, but decided against sharing.

'So, Chacky boy, tell Rookie --ela, Rookiela, Carina went on. 'yo know 'm the boss, rrrigght?'

'I'm really sorry, …. girls, sweet, sweet girls, I'm not ... that guy, … I mean wine guy, wine guy.' Chuck corrected himself.

He was staring at the bottle that was in Carina's hand, but its label had been printed with some sort of hieroglyphics.

It had obviously been intended for export to Zimbabwe or Thailand, wherever, he had no idea. He remembered from his geography classes that South Africa was a major wine producer.

OK, Chu- ... Chu- ... Chuck-y, don' worry, we' ask the doc-tor, ..mean the la-dy doc-tor,' they were both slurring something and moving slowly toward him so he made a step aside to let them go ahead.

'Ladies, …. agents ….,' Chuck pursed his lips, '… drunkards, …where is Sarah?' He asked in desperation.

'Aaaah,' Lisa started, but got interrupted by her own burp now. 'La Co- ...Co-..., Coquette. Cousn's sush-a-louzher.' she shushed.

Loser, what loser?' Chuck protested, apparently highly offended by the remark, even when slurred out by a highly intoxicated 'Rookiela'.

Amazo- ,' Carina tried, 'she lost 'n, Ama-zon drank .. drunk, … drink ... test, con … test'

They had now reached the front door of Casa Bartowski and tried to open it. Not an easy task to get through however. Slim as they both were, they were still stuck there due to their hands still holding the glasses.

Chuck turned and rushed to Casey's. He entered and looked around. 'Sarah?' he shouted.

Yeah, she was there, sleeping on the couch. She was only in her underwear. Not that it was covering much.

There was an empty glass on the table, and next to it an empty bottle.

'Oh god, was she drunk like a sailor too?' Chuck approached her, leaned and tried to smell her mouth. Yeah, that must be South African cabernet, or merlot, or whatever was, it was the first time Sarah had smelled like this.

Phew. So she had lost the drinking contest. Chuck pursed his lips in disappointment.

He could see her chest moving so he knew she was breathing OK. He tried to shake her lightly to see if she would wake up. Nope, there was no chance she was going to budge.

Oh god, he had promised to tell Ellie a big surprise and had no idea what that would be. He had hoped that he and Sarah could figure something out, and now she was passed out drunk and he had to come up with something by himself!

'Think, think, think.'

But he couldn't think of anything. Obviously, Ellie was expecting to hear that he and Sarah have engagement plans but now he couldn't even come up with a fake engagement.

He sat in an arm-chair and tried to figure out another surprise for Ellie. But there was nothing in his head.

Several minutes later he raised his head. Had he fallen asleep? He could hear some noise coming from outside, it kept getting louder by the minute.

Oh yeah, Chuck could hear it clearly now, so he knew immediately.

The drunkard Amazon duo was coming back home. They had opened the front door but obviously couldn't get through. Both were stuck on the door. Again. Drunken sailors never seem to learn.

Chack-y,' Carina hiccupped. 'Come to mama, ba-by.' They had managed to somehow pass the door.

'_I had a mama once, but she was nowhere near you, general Falcon,_' Chuck thought.

'I won this one, Chuck, 'Lisa mumbled. I'm a wine god ... good ... goddess. Chuck, deear, I won.' She repeated, hiccupping.

'Your Madonna said 'merlot'. I won Fizzione,' she said to her boss, waving her now empty glass aimlessly through the air.

'Bull ..,' Carina was staggering now that she and Lisa parted. ' ...'m the boss... sss is always.. rrrr, rrrrrt...' she fell in an arm chair without finishing.

Then she saw Chuck and her eyes glistened. "Ah, Chuck-y boy, r'nd two.' she was trying to get up.

Why Carina,' Chuck started, in disbelief. 'Wasn't round one more than enough?'

You .. not listen..-ing love .. boy. , she hiccupped again, and again. 'Round two. ..amazo…-n booty … test, I mean aaa … beau- ty test, … eerrr, boo-ty con ... con-test.'

Carina apparently wasn't yet sure how exactly to formulate round two, but Chuck got the picture anyway.

He had gotten up and making plans how to reach the front door, passing somehow around those two. Not an easy task considering Lisa was still between him and the front door.

Carina started taking her shirt off now.

She was trying with her right hand only as she was still holding the glass in the other. It was not the most successful act of undressing in Chuck's book and he felt eternally grateful for that.

Finally, Carina dropped the glass on the carpet and was now unbuttoning.

Oh, yeaah,' Lisa started, 'let's see bioss!' She started taking her shirt off.

'Chack,' Carina gasped, 'you've a new mi- ..mi- ..mission. "mir – ur, … mirrrr on ' wall, who' s, .. who's the …f'rest'.., al? mirrrr, mirr ..'

Having no interest whatsoever in playing the role of the infamous magic mirror, Chuck had gotten up and was making plans how to reach the front door, passing somehow around the rookie Amazon.

'Ladies, ladies, I'm really not good at this,' he started, trying not to look at them. 'Thank god they still had their bras on.'

Chucky dear, rememr, Lisa staggered toward him, leaning forward.

If 'Fizzion-i wi... wi-wi .. .wins, I'll tu- tu.. tell .. tell the co … coq … coquette.' Lisa fell on the couch, over Sarah's legs.

' ..'nd three,' Carina announced between multiple hiccups now..' rrrnd threeeee...'

She was trying to take her pants off without further announcements.

Now that they were at round three, Lisa didn't wait for a special invitation. ''ll nock ur socks fff, auntie.' She shot at Carina trying to take her jeans off.

Chuck looked around. His escape route via the front door was a possibility now that both were down. He rushed to the door blurting out:

'Sorry ladies, I had left the coffee machine on, I'll be back soon.' He raced out of Casey's and toward Casa Bartowski.

Only after Chuck got to the front door of the Casa did he dare glance back at what was going on in Casey's apartment.

'hate'ya Rookiela' cried the auntie and threw her bra at the junior agent.

Yeah, they were now throwing everything at each other, panties, bras, and whatnot.

'Chuck!' both shouted, but the slur that followed was totally unintelligible.

Special Agent Carmichael didn't think twice – he opened the front door of his home, rushed in and locked it with both locks, leaning against it. He could exhale freely now.

'Phew, that was close, too.' He thought.

XXX


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Again, special thanks to a fan fiction member that provided some priceless help and advice for this and some of the following chapters, and that would be, of course, NickyR. **

She turned out to be a very smart, creative, observant, understanding ….. well, if I continue with the full list, the author's note will turn out longer than the chapter itself. Furthermore, the rest of the writers will line up for her advice as well, and since they are all better than me, I'll end up again out there in the cold.

So, shhhh, it's a top secret how good she is (wink, wink). It's for your personal Intersect only. Please don't flash on her. (no pun intended :) )

**Chapter IX**

**Family Time, Romeo Time**

Chuck had just gotten back into Casa Bartowski.

Strange, the lights were off here. He wondered what was going on with the party preparations.

Where on earth were Ellie and Devon?

He reached the couch and sat down there, without turning the lights on. He needed to take a break, gather his thoughts.

There was silence for a minute or so he thought.

_But then it started. _

Noises. Those were baaad, ... bad noises. They were coming from Ellie and Devon's bedroom.

Groans. And moans, mixed with 'awesome' and 'this is so awesome' exclamations.

Chuck didn't wait for the thumping or any other rhythmic noises to start. He had a pretty good idea where this was going.

He had jumped up and rushed into his bedroom. Earplugs, earplugs!

Chuck had pairs of earplugs strategically deployed everywhere around the house so that he could reach a pair in less than 2 seconds if need be.

And boy, he had needed them more than often.

Chuck was now in his bed, earplugs in place, and headphones on top of them. Just to be on the safe side.

'That's my last night under the same roof with the Tomcats, I swear!' he hissed.

Tomcats was his special nickname for Ellie and Devon every time they were making all these noises.

'I have to talk to my father,' he reminded himself again. 'He has to write a program for me, to delete those from my head! First job tomorrow!'

He was watching now the tiny green lights of his alarm clock, counting the minutes. 12 minutes later he decided to remove one of the earplugs.

Silence. _So much for married life_, he thought, shaking his head.

'Thank you god, that it's finally over.' He said but stayed on tenterhooks for another 15 minutes before feeling safe. He knew that sometimes there was a repeat.

Chuck got up and walked into the living room again.

There was silence now. He had headed to the lights switch to turn it on when he heard some noise again.

It was different. What was that? He approached their room. Somebody was talking inside. He had to press his ear to the door in order to discern.

'Where is Chuck Bartowski?' somebody was hissing inside. 'Don't move or you're dead!'

'We have to take the woman, ... boss didn't say anything about a man,' somebody whispered.

'So we shoot him?'

'I don't know, ... guess so. Let me talk to the boss.'

Somebody was dialing a number.

Chuck realized he didn't have any time to call for help. The Amazon division was useless anyway.

Somebody was talking on the phone. 'Yeah, OK, kill him.'

'Oh god, Ellie, Devon,' Chuck exclaimed. Then he saw some bright light, the nausea, he was staggering. Those flashes had been getting shorter and shorter recently.

'Thank god the kung fu was uploading, he had thought. 'Oh no, that was not one of those Bruce Lee movies. What was going on?'

Romeo, what Romeo? Another program had uploaded in his brain before that as well, however. It had been analyzing the audio waves inside Ellie's bedroom. There were three people and now he knew their exact location and distance from the door.

He made two steps backwards and kicked the door. It wasn't the Chuck Bartowski awkward kick. It was a Jet Li one. Somehow Chuck had missed this movie*, probably because he was studying for an exam at Stanford when it was premiered.

Chuck raced inside, making two large jumps inside Ellie's room, like those acrobats in sports gymnastics, and then a front somersault. Once his legs were ahead of him again they had reached two of the intruders, who were in black ninja outfits. With a violent scissors he kicked their guns simultaneously and was now landing a little behind them, close to the third intruder.

He used the kinetic energy of the landing to push away the gun with his left hand of the third and gave him a devastating uppercut in the chin. He didn't have time to see what happened to the poor ninja flying high in the air now.

He had immediately turned his head to see where the closest gun was and had plunged toward it. He grabbed the gun and, while still lying on the floor, shot the farther intruder who was reaching for his gun.

Then Chuck pointed the gun toward the last viable ninja and yelled: 'Don't you dare move!'

Only then did he realize that it wasn't a normal gun but a tranq. The model used only one dart.

The third ninja kicked it with a really violent kick but Chuck didn't mind that at all.

His body wasn't lying on the floor any more. It was engaged in a violent twirl with his right leg sweeping the left leg of his opponent that was still firm on the ground.

Now both ninja legs were high in the air and he was about to land almost on his head in half a second.

Chuck had all the time in the world already to stand on his left leg, still kneeling, so he jumped in the air, joining his opponent in the air, landing over him. There was no need to hit him any more as the bad guy had lost consciousness hitting his head against the floor really, really hard.

Chuck looked around. He saw the naked couple in the bed totally freaked out, but he didn't say anything to them.

Still on the floor, he pulled out his mobile and dialed the hotel reception of Sarah's hotel. Somebody answered.

The audio analyzing program told Chuck that it was Agent Specter, the one he talked to the morning after Ellie's wedding.

'Agent Specter, Carmichael here, special agent Charles Carmichael,' Chuck was shushing this with somebody's famous Scottish accent.

'We were attacked by three assailants, I disabled them but there could be more coming. I need some back up asap. Understood?'

'Yes, sir. Where are agents Walker and Falcone anyway?

They've been disabled as well.' Carmichael answered. _By themselves_, he remembered. 'Amateurs!' he shook his head.

'Waiting for you here, over.' Chuck hung up and looked around for the guns. He picked all of them – only one was tranq, the rest were live.

He looked at the couple. The woman was unconscious, the man was checking her vitals.

His eyes went unfocused. He was slowly coming back to "Chuck' now...

'Devon, is she ok?' Chuck yelled desperately, jumping up.

'Yeah, she's fine. Pulse a little fast but that's all, don't worry, bro.' Devon had turned to Chuck.

'Bro, …. Woooooow! Where did you learn all this cool stuff?'

'It's a long story Devon, no time for this now.' Chuck was thinking. 'Put a gown on Ellie and let's go. We can't wait for the NSA people, here, we're going.'

'Where Chuck?'

'Just do it Devon, you'll see.'

Chuck still had Sarah's Porsche keys – there were also keys for the Orange Orange and the Castle there.

'I'm waiting for you two in the living room.' He said to Devon.

But first, he took all the weapons and went to one of the ninjas and lifted his mask. He didn't know him.

He sighed. Others must have been coming.

He was waiting in the living room when Devon came puffing and carrying his unconscious wife.

'Where're we heading bro?' he whispered, watching around.

'Get her in the car, I'll tell you there.'

While Devon was fitting Ellie into her car on the back seat, Chuck had gone to check on the drunken Amazons. They were still sleeping there, Sarah on the couch and the rest were in the armchairs. He entered with his hands on his eyes opening them only for a second. Yeah, they seemed to be naked so he turned around and went out.

He called the hotel reception again and told the agent that he was heading to the castle so they sent one car here to protect the sleeping agents and the other one to join him.

He got into Ellie's car and sped off.

"Where we heading bro," Devon asked again.

'The Castle, Devon,'

'Castle, what castle Chuck, are you sure you're ok? Do you mean Neverland's castle, Michael Jackson's? Wow, is that your base there now?

'No, Devon, under the _Orange Orange_, the Castle.'

"Orange Orange, the yoghurt shop?, "Devon was flabbergasted.

"Never mind Devon, you'll see.' Chuck was really irritated now, but not at his in-law.

He had left Sarah and the rest unprotected for several minutes, less than 10, according to his own calculations. He had locked the door of Casey's and turned the lights off. But still.

20 minutes later Chuck was parking the car at Orange Orange. He got out and unlocked the door. While Devon was carrying Ellie inside Chuck called the hotel reception.

'Specter, have your people arrived at Casey's? Chuck asked, with his heart pounding.

'Yes sir, but there was nobody there.'

'What? They were there only 15 minutes ago, 20 actually. Chuck was horrified now, watching at his mobile unbelieving.

Somebody was calling his phone so he switched. It was Sarah. Oh, God!

'Sarah are you ok?' he asked, trembling.

'Yeah Chuck and you, where are you now?'

'We are at the yoghurt shop, entering the Castle. You?'

'We thought you'd be driving to the hotel so we headed there, we are almost there now. Will take some agents with us and come to join you. Lock the doors and stay put there, OK?'

'Yeah, over,' he hung up and started opening the inside door of the shop, then led Devon to the secret passage, all the way down to the Castle.

Xxx

Carina, Sarah and her cousin didn't even reach the hotel. They had turned around and were heading to the castle.

'We have to take care of Ellie and Devon now, they can't be around until this is over,' Sarah started. 'We simply won't be able to protect them in the hospital, home, when going out, socializing …. ' Sarah was shaking her head.

'Yeah,' Carina nodded. 'We'll have to think of something. Maybe our bosses should talk to the hospital management to reassign them to a military facility or something. I mean temporarily, of course. One way or another they have to disappear for the time being, or something really bad may finally happen. We can't take any more chances.'

Sarah had no idea that Carina was behind all of this from the beginning.

First, Carina had sedated her at Casey's as she wasn't sure she would agree to participate.

Then she and Lisa had put on the second part of the drunkard show to send Chuck back there with Ellie and Devon. The three intruders were actually DEA agents Carina had asked to participate.

The bullets in the live guns were blank.

The only potential danger in the whole operation was if Ellie had got too frightened and this could have potentially affected the baby.

Carina had talked to doctors and they told her to sedate her, give her something to keep her blood pressure and pulse low, and inhibit somewhat the adrenaline formation. In fact Ellie hadn't gone unconscious in the end. A slow tranquilizer had finally gotten to her. But she had witnessed the action.

Carina and Lisa had put the first part of their drunkard show in order to get Ellie to try the wine, which contained the drug. Had Ellie refused to drink at all, Carina had plan B – to spray her lightly on their way out.

It was time for Ellie to learn the truth about her brother. Find out that he was a hero. And hopefully agree to disappear for the time being. It had become too dangerous.

The only thing that surprised Carina was that Chuck flashed on a different karate technique and performed all these acrobatic stunts. Wow. She and Lisa had watched it live as the cameras inside the Casa were on. As always. Once Chuck went out and headed to Casey's apartment she and Lisa had returned to their sleeping positions.

The other thing that surprised her was how good Lisa was. She knew that Sarah's cousin would be good, but she deserved an Oscar for this. No wonder Lisa had conned here initially with the legally blonde thing.

Carina couldn't believe her luck. She had been looking for a partner like this for years. No luck. She had almost lost hope. But now she had hit her jackpot.

"Great,' she exhaled loudly and pressed further on the accelerator even though they were now a minute away from the Castle.

"What?' both Sarah and Lisa asked, surprised what could be so great.

'Nothing, I'm just happy that Chuck and his family are OK.' Carina smiled on the outside. Inside, she was screaming, "YESSSSSSSSS"

Chuck was nowhere near to detect that this was just another of her half-lies.

Xxx


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Special thanks to NickyR again for the corrections.

It's been long overdue for another **disclaimer**. Bingo! I almost got _Chuck_'s rights yesterday.

Here is what happened:

I went to the beach and then into the ocean, swimming around. Just for fun. But then, there they were, the Rights to _Chuck_, in their full glory, floating around. What a coincidence, heh! So I swim toward them, and they're heading to me. I stretch my arms toward them, and they stretch theirs at me. ... But then there came out of nowhere this large boat and somebody barked out, 'Hey, numbrights, get back here you morons!' And the Rights sighed and said, 'Okay, okay,' then turned around and swam away right before I could grab them. And next? ... I open my eyes and realize that my GF is slapping me, 'Hey, you were screaming again, what's with you? Nightmares honey, just Nightmares!

So I'm going to the beach today, right after posting:

**Chapter X**

"**You Have The Right to Remain Silent, But Somehow I Doubt It!"**

Chuck and Devon were now in the main operations room of the Castle. Devon was still carrying Ellie, but he was so excited with what was around that he wasn't feeling her weight.

'Put her down on this chair, Dev, come with me.' Chuck said in a hurry.

'Wow, Chuck, This is …' Devon was ecstatic.

'Awesome, yeah, I know.' Chuck said slightly annoyed, as he had still so many things to consider.

'No, no, it's beyond that,' Devon was trying to find a stronger word but his 1-word vocabulary was heroically resisting the effort.

'Let's get some cots and put them here in the foyer, OK?'

He looked at his sister – she had only a gown as he made them get away immediately from the house.

He was wondering where to get some clothes for her. He remembered the operational outfit he used when he went to Roark's HQ with the tranq guns.

He went into another room and took a pair of pants that looked like Ellie's size and a black top and turned around to get back to her. But then he stopped, thinking. He got back and took two bullet-proof vests and then returned to Ellie and Devon.

'Wow, bro, this is so cool, is it for me and Ellie?' Devon asked. "Is our life still in danger, ... here?"

'Just in case, Devon, I'll put them here next to the cots. If somebody attacks us, we'll be warned by the monitoring security system so you'll have enough time to put one on Ellie and you.'

They heard a weak groan. Both turned their heads toward Ellie. They had put her on the cot 5 minutes ago, and now she was coming back.

'_Ohh, God, the moment of Truth_' Chuck thought, getting goose bumps everywhere.

Ellie was blinking slowly, trying to figure out where she was.

She saw blurred Devon and Chuck in front of her. Her head was killing her. She grimaced.

"Ohh, Devon, ... Chuck,' she was still trying to focus on their faces to make sure. 'I had such a horrible dream. And so weird. First Devon and I ….' She started waving her hands in circles in the air.

Chuck shook his head,'Ah, sis, let's skip on that, please, I have nobody to scrape it off my brain.'

'Yeah, ... yeah,' Ellie went on slowly, 'and then, ..... uh, there were these ninjas .... who came to kill us, ... kidnap, I'm not sure.'

"Wow, babe, that's one hell of a dream." Devon chimed in nodding and looking at Chuck for guidance. He looked so freaked out.

'And then, ... Chuck!' Ellie turned to look at him straight in the eyes, 'you wouldn't believe that, little brother, there was a thunder and you jumped out of nowhere, like some spy, …. super spy, and kicked them around, .... the ninjas I mean, and started talking on the phone to somebody, pretending to be an agent ... with some strange name ....'

She grimaced as she was trying to remember the name …

'Carmichael, …' Devon added enthusiastically.

'Ohhh, so I was talking in my sleep, she shook her head. 'Yeah, ... right, ... Carmichael.'

Chuck had clamped his lips, grimacing.

He had another golden opportunity to continue with the lies. He could drug her again and get her out of the Castle before she realized where she was.

But it didn't make sense to him anymore. It never had. Her safety wasn't helped in any way from all these lies. Especially now. He actually needed to convince her somehow to go into hiding for the time being. And she had to know about him, about their father.

She had been hating her father for 10 years, and why? Because she didn't know the truth. His father, and now he, her brother had been treating her like a child, who can't handle the truth. Why? It was stupid, so stupid …'

'Ellie,' Chuck started, 'uh, I … I'm afraid that .... that hasn't been a dream what … you've just told us. We were actually there. The thing that you just said. I mean, the super-spy thing might be a little overboard, I guess, but ..."

'Babe,' Devon chimed in again.'It's true, I was there as well. It was for real and sooo awesome!'

'What?', Devon, are you crazy?' Ellie stared at him in disbelief.

'No, .... Ellie, uh, .. just get up and see where we are.' Devon raised his hands and moved them around to show her the entire environment.

It was for the first time now that Ellie's eyes focused on the Castle interior. She had been used to a lot of equipment as any doctor usually was.

She tried to stand up and they helped her.

"What is this place?"

She was now slowly stepping forward, entering the main operations room with all the monitors, the guns, the gear. She had seen that kind of stuff only in the movies.

She turned back toward them with her eyes just about to pop out, and they nodded at her so she turned ahead again.

'But my brother's name in not Carmichael, ... it's Chuck, … Chuck Bartowski!' she pouted loudly.

Which of the three names triggered it remained a mystery, but the communication system with the DNI HQ was activated. The central and largest monitor flashed on and general Beckman appeared on it, stern as usual.

The general had expected either Sarah or Carina, now that Casey was on his way to DC.

'What are you doing there?' The general inquired angrily. She knew from Chuck's file that it was his sister. 'Mrs Bartowski … Woodcomb?'

Ellie was watching at her with her eyes wide open, she was thinking something.

"Hah, I've seen you somewhere, 'Ellie started, pointing at her, '…. Yes, TV, on the TV,' Ellie went on, 'but not with so many wrinkles,' she was pointing with her index finger her own face now, moving it in a circle. Then she realized the faux pas and yelled, ' ...twinkles, I mean twinkles in your eyes ...uuh general…'

'Here is your own DNA test,' Chuck muttered to himself, shaking his head.

He had been so paralyzed by the initial reactions of his sister that he was still standing next to Devon outside the operations room, watching from there.

It was time for him to get this mess in order.

'I'm sorry general, I let them here, ... they were attacked in our home, all of us were … but I ... I mean the Intersect, was able to push the assailants away.'

'Oh, ... and where are Agents Walker and Falcone?' Beckman inquired, with her trademark brow going higher than ever.

'STOP!' somebody had screamed really loud.

Everybody was silent now.

It was Ellie.

'_Agent_ Walker?' She said, staring at Chuck.

"Sarah … and you, agents, ..... oooh that's why you were so slow, .... oooooh, you are not a real couple, right? Oooooh.'

The disappointment in her voice had crushed Chuck.

Carina, Sarah and Lisa had arrived 10 minutes ago but Sarah had decided to check on them on the monitor in Orange Orange. Thus, they had seen what was going on inside the Castle and decided to wait there till Chuck, Ellie and Devon cleared things up between them.

It was family time.

But now that Beckman appeared and Sarah's name came around she had rushed in and was on her way down to join them.

When she started running down the stairs she could see and hear Chuck stammering something to Ellie, trying to assure her that they were a real couple.

'Hi Ellie,' Sarah smiled to her.

"Sarah, are you an …"

'We, ... aaah I'm so sorry, we haven't told you Ellie, ... it was for your own protection, actually I am with the CIA and I am Chuck's handler and protector. And Casey too.'

'Agent Walker,' Beckman interjected almost shouting, 'what is going on there? And please spare me the family saga, mind you?'

'I'm sorry general, somebody attacked the Asset's …. Chuck's house, while we were at Casey's apartment, so Chuck had flashed his kung fu skills and pushed the intruders away.'

'Hmmm,' general Beckman was staring at Sarah, 'it seems the Asset is now more capable of protecting himself and his family than you are.' She enunciated on the last part.

"Call me when agent Falcone arrives and I certainly don't expect civilians to be still wandering around the Castle.' Beckman threw a really chilling look at Ellie, who yelled:

"Twinkle, general, I meant twinkles."

Beckman had already switched the feed off however.

Ellie and Devon had been moving their eyes left and right like watching a tennis match following the exchange between Sarah and her boss.

Clearly, the agent part had easily sunk in into Ellie's mind. But the other did not.

'Chuck,' Ellie yelled at him, 'So you and Sarah, you two .... had been just pretending to be a couple? For all these two years?'

'No, no, Ellie, we are actually a real couple.'

Ellie shook her head, rolling her eyes. 'So Devon was right, you were really so slow. ... I'm so fed up being lied to. By you, ... Dad, …'

Now Chuck was feeling his blood boiling up. Last time he checked, he and Sarah were a real couple. For one, he remembered their 10-hour love marathon quite vividly.

'Oh yeah,' he yelled back at Ellie, 'you don't believe me?'

He grabbed Sarah's arm and pulled her toward himself. She was in his arms now, pressed to him.

He winked at her with his left eye as Ellie couldn't see it. "PLAY ALONG.'

He pressed his lips against her mouth in an reenactment of their kiss before Roan Montgomery. Well it started like that, but ended like the Montgomery kiss at power two.

Neither he, nor Sarah had any idea how long it lasted, neither of them knew which part of which mouth was her or his anymore.

Ellie and Devon were totally mesmerized by this burst of passion. Wowwww.

After it finally ended, Devon had exclaimed, 'Awesome!'

Ellie had turned and looked at him saying, 'Hah, have you ever kissed me like that, ah, amateur!'

Once they had parted, Sarah could swear her knees were melting down, she was staggering, so she uttered a quick 'excuse me' and rushed away to the rest room.

'Oooooh god' she exclaimed to herself, 'It is so hot here,' she said loud.

"_You _are hot, idiot" she had to admit to herself.

She needed a cold shower, not just a lipstick. She remembered that she hadn't taken a shower since her arrival so she decided it was about time. She rushed to the bathroom facility, took her clothes off and opened the cold water tap.

Good, that was helping a bit.

Bit with her excitement subsiding, there came another familiar feeling. Frustration.

Frustration with having to inhibit her feminine side for months and months, …. years.

She remembered what she had promised herself on the plane while flying back to LA.

'_Never again should you allow the government business mess with your private life! ... What kind of a lame spy are you if you can't find a way to fix your private matters first?' _

She looked at her CIA-issue water proof watch. It's been three hours since she had arrived in LA and she still hadn't had a second of private time with her boyfriend, ... yeah, _real_ boyfriend. She wasn't going to tolerate that anymore.

She was thinking. ... An evil grin had emerged on her face.

She turned the cold water to a minimum and opened the hot water tap …

xxx

Chuck, Ellie and Devon were still in the operations room, with Chuck telling parts of his secret life and what actually had happened since he had received Bryce Larkin's email.

Ellie was listening with her face buried in her hands. She didn't even know what to think and how to react.

About 10 minutes later, Sarah reappeared.

When Chuck glanced at her, his eyes were about to pop out.

Her face was glistening, her hair was still wet. She had an operation outfit on her now – black tights and black top.

'Ohh God!'

Several things had become abundantly clear to Chuck: She had had a shower; she hadn't dried herself well enough so the clothes had been tightly glued and strictly following the lines of her body; she had nothing under them.

He swallowed really hard.

'Ahh' Chuck said, 'I was just speaking of you Agent … ah, Mermaid, ... or rather, Agent most beautiful Mermaid … in the Pacific ocean…. Atlantic ocean …Indian ocean …' He turned to Ellie and Devon and muttered 'did I miss any ocean?

'Shut up Chuck,' Sarah yelled, smiling inside, relieving him of the obvious obligation to list all the remaining water bodies.

She had a gun in her hand now and raised it against all of them.

'There is a leak within this operation. I've been ordered to investigate it. I'm starting with you, agent Carmichael.'

"I'm sorry Ellie and Devon, 'she smiled softly at them, 'this will be a formality of course, but rules are rules. Standard operating procedures. We have to fill in the papers documenting the interrogation. You know, red tape stuff.'

'Chuck,' she pointed the exit to him, 'go to the interrogation room.'

'You stay there, please.' She said to them and followed Chuck.

'Sarah, what is going on? Are you sure you know what you are doing?' Chuck asked in disbelief.

_'Oh yeah, you have no idea how sure I am this time!' _

She had picked one of the holding cells that had blinds and they were already on.

Chuck entered with his hands still up and saw there several mattresses and pillows from the cot sets thrown around.

'Ah," he said, turning around, smirking, 'Spy humor again. Gotcha. I guess I am under arrest now, ... Agent Mermaid?'

Sarah entered the cell. She pushed several keys on the keypad, the door behind her closed.

'You guessed right, agent Carmichael,' she smiled. 'You are under arrest and have the right to remain silent, ... but somehow I doubt you'll be able to.'

Xxx

Poor Sarah and Chuck.

She had forgotten that once you activate a holding sell, the monitoring system automatically got switched on.

A monitor had flashed on now, showing video feed from the 'interrogation cell', the speakers were reproducing the sounds coming from there.

'Gross, Devon, turn that off, please,' Ellie was yelling at him.

Devon started pushing all the keys on the keyboard but the feed was still there. Fortunately, the audio was down now.

Ellie was somewhat lucky as Sarah and Chuck were still kissing and just started to undress.

Devon found some old newspaper and put it over the monitor.

'Phew, that was close,' he said. '_And awesome!'_ he thought to himself.

Carina, who had been monitoring this from the Orange Orange, joined them, approached the computer and pressed the right key on the keyboard to switch it off.

'Sorry guys. This part of the interrogation is top secret.' she said with a grin.

'Yeah,' Ellie said, 'just who's gonna scrape its beginning off my brain?'

It was Devon's turn now to get at Ellie.

'Babe, babe, did it ever occur to you to arrest me like that, ah, ever? Seems both of us have something to learn, here' he said nodding approvingly. "Those spies clearly know how to do ... stuff.'

'Yeah,' Ellie had to admit. 'In my naivety, I had just thought that those two have been only pretending to be a real couple over the last two years.' She was shaking her head in disbelief.

xxx

A/N: The next several chapters will probably come out at a slower pace ... summer break.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Here we are, back to _Chuck v. Agent Insanity_. **

**For those who have forgotten the story, here is a quick flashback (parts I and II):**

**Immediately after Chuck uploads Intersect 2.0, Sarah is urgently summoned to Washington – to be briefed on a top secret black op (against Iranian nuclear facilities) that would involve the intersect. Carina is assigned to replace Sarah. She turns out to be a very resourceful but schizophrenic woman, eager to deal with her personal problems. She uses Chuck (the Intersect) to find out the location of a mafia enforcer who is hiding under the witness protection program. He and his thugs had been responsible for the death of her family almost 20 years ago.**

**Agent 20, the head of the black op, briefs Sarah on everything she needs to know and sends her back to LA, summoning now Casey back to Washington, DC.**

**Meanwhile, Chuck and Carina come across Sarah's cousin Lisa, a con artist, same as Sarah and her father before the CIA recruited her. Carina realizes that Lisa is much more like her than Sarah and decides to recruit her for both her personal and government agendas.  
**

**Once Sarah is back in LA, Carina stages an incident to make Chuck's sister finally find out the truth about her brother and hopefully convince her to go into hiding. **

**During this episode Sarah, who hasn't had the chance to spend a single second with her now real boyfriend, takes Chuck away to one of the interrogation cells of the Castle so they finally have some private time together. Unfortunately, she forgets that the monitoring systems is automatically turned on so Ellie and Devon can see on one of the monitors Sarah and Chuck making out. Fortunately, Devon is able to turn the audio off and soon Carina joins to help, turning the video monitoring off before it gets too hot in this improvised 'interrogation' cell.**

A/N: Special thanks to my magnificent editor, NickyR, as always. I still make changes after her editing, so the bad stuff is certainly mine.

**Chuck Versus Agent Insanity – Part II**

**Chapter XI**

**Agent Walker And Agent Joker**

**22:30, The Castle, Improvised 'Interrogation' Cell**

'Well,' a still panting Sarah started, hastily putting her clothes back on, 'time to get back to the operations room, Chuck. They must be wondering what's going on, … why we disappeared for so long.'

'Really, … you think?' Chuck asked enthusiastically.

'What,' Sarah furrowed, ' … what do you mean?'

'_So long_? You think it was, uh … long, … I mean long enough?'

'Oh, … that,' she semi-smirked, 'yeah, … it was great, … why?'

'Nothing, just asking, … yeah, let's go, they must be waiting for us.'

Five minutes later Sarah and Chuck rushed back into the situation room.

Both Devon and Ellie awkwardly turned their heads away.

Noticing that, Chuck frowned and glanced at Sarah, raising his shoulders, '_What's with those two?_'

Carina, watching all this with a smirk on her face, decided to unveil the mystery.

'That's right Chuck,' she snickered. 'Both you and Sarah forgot that once you enter one of those cells, the monitoring system there gets automatically turned on. So you two have put on quite an adult show for the public here … on monitor 7, I mean. And you have a really good audio system here, in this op center. Very vivid, stereo ...'

'Oh, my god!' both Sarah and Chuck had yelled. "We are so sorry!' They both started desperately gesticulating.

'It's ok, bro,' Devon waved his hand, 'I reacted really fast, turned the audio off, put some newspaper on the monitor there, so, hmm … it was PG-13, bro, … strictly PG-13.'

'Thank God,' Ellie exclaimed raising her head and rolling her eyes. Then she put her head back between her hands.

'Well,' Lisa decided to chime in. 'Congratulations, cousin,' she smiled at Sarah. 'And Chuck, to you too,' she poked him on his belly. 'Oh, … you're such a softie.'

'Yeah,' Carina said, 'he needs some serious training, and so do you, Lisa. I guess we're gonna start on that tomorrow. But first we have a much more immediate problem,' she turned to Ellie and Devon. 'You two.'

'What, what's the problem, uh, … officer?' Devon stammered, forgetting Carina's name.

'As Chuck's close relatives you are under serious threat. You've already seen how real it is, haven't you?'

'It's both a threat to you two personally,' Carina went on, '... and to the baby. And most importantly, to US national security as well. As you already know, Chuck is a very important government asset and if some hostile entity were to kidnap him, it would be tremendous leverage on him, so …'

'So …' Ellie asked anxiously.

'So, ... we have to hide you somewhere,' Sarah chimed in raising her hands, ' at least for a couple of months, until the dust settles a bit here.'

'Oh,' Ellie exclaimed while Chuck swallowed really hard, 'some underground, uh …, place?'

'Not necessarily,' Sarah went on. 'A military base abroad, like Japan or Germany, you'll be even able to work as doctors, you know. As so many others do.'

'Oh,' Ellie said, still struggling to process the incoming, completely new reality, 'that's not such a bad idea, right Devon?'

'But even better,' Carina interrupted, 'I mean ... in terms of your safety, will be a navy ship. In the sea, … fresh air, and virtually absolute security. How about an air carrier? The Mediterranean, … the Pacific?'

'Awesome,' Devon jumped up, smiling and waving,' this is so awesome, … right babe?'

Ellie's eyes were now wide open. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess so, if we would be indeed really safe, … there.'

In fact, she had no idea whether she wanted it or not. Yet.

Xxx

**10:30 am, next day, The Buy More**

The exit gate opened and Chuck rushed in. Having made several steps inside, he stopped, looked around and smirked. Hmm, he felt so good about getting back to Buy More now.

Right behind him, there stood Carina, in a black business suit.

'Well, Chuck,' she said, 'Let's do it.'

'Yeah, … yeah, that'll be fun.' Chuck smiled at her. 'I really like it. Let me show you around.'

Big Mike was the first to spot them while towing a really huge box.

'Hi Chuck,' he nodded, obviously forgetting that Chuck had quit. 'Late again, huh, lazy boy? Is that your new girlfriend?'

'Hi, Big Mike, how are ya? And no, Sarah is over there, setting up the new shop, you know, the subway thing.'

Before Big Mike was able to say anything Lester popped up.

'Aaaah, Chuck, what brings you here, bro? Last time I checked you quit the Buy More, right? Oh, the lady, … Sarah's friend, I remember.' he smiled at Carina and offered his hand. 'And how can one forget such a beautiful woman. Au chante.'

'I'm back Lester, at least for a while,' Chuck said, ' and so is the lady,' he nodded at Carina.

'Where is the manager?' Carina inquired after greeting Lester.

'Oh, Emmett? He was wandering around,' Lester glanced around and so did Chuck and Carina.

Was that Emmett's bald head that had just ducked behind the shelf over there?

'Emmett?' Chuck yelled, 'is that you?'

'Uuuh, … yeah, … yeah, I had just dropped my uh, … pen?' Emmett said timidly, reappearing behind one of the shelves. 'Hello, …Mr. Bartowski, Miss Williams, I presume?' Emmett offered his hand to Carina while bowing.

'That's right, Carina Williams,' she smiled, 'I'm Mr. Moses Finkelstein's legal advisor. I'm here for overall re-evaluation of this store's performance. As you probably heard David Mercer, the corporate evaluator, has been fired and we are just making sure his recent actions weren't influenced by any ulterior motives. Seems like he took bribes from here and there.'

'No, not here, … not from here.' Emmett went on smarmily. 'How can I be of any help, dear lady?'

'Oh, we'll be just looking around for the time being, talking to people. I need to see how things are going here, first-hand.' Carina said icily. 'Mr. Bartowski will be with me, after all he was working here for quite some time, right Chuck?' she smiled at him. 'If there are any skeletons around, he'll be able to help me find them…'

'Yeah, yeah, of course,' a trembling Emmett went on, 'if you need uh, … anything, I'll be in my office, um … anything, Miss Williams,' at that Emmett turned around and slowly straggled back toward his office as if he was heading to the guillotine.

'Okay,' Chuck said, 'Lester, and where is Jeff by the way?'

'Oh, … Jeff, hmm,' Lester uttered, but he was still processing something, "_Emmett's history, I guess, maybe, oh gosh, … maybe I can be the next …'_

'Jeff is, uh … in his office, you know, the toilet stall,' Lester went on, after turning to Carina.

'He refurbished one of the stalls there, uses it as a base of his operations,' Chuck explained, smirking.

'Oh, I see,' Carina said.

'Watching porn there?' Chuck asked.

'I don't think so,' Lester shook his head. 'He had just purchased a 3-DVD audio course, … you know, '_How To Get Women_.'

'Interesting,' Carina shook her head, 'Quite a guy, huh. I think I remember him now. The one with the rebellious hair?'

'I don't need a course,' Lester grimaced awkwardly at Carina, 'people say I'm a natural.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Carina nodded. 'I can see that.'

**Xxx**

**7,30 pm, same day, The Castle**

It was the first day of Chuck and Lisa's intensive physical training. Once Chuck had shown Carina the secret entrance to the Castle from the Buy More side, they got back there and started training. Martial arts, then jogging outside, weightlifting, push-ups, everything.

Nothing that Sarah and Carina taught Chuck seemed familiar to him. Obviously, the Intersect and Chuck's own memory operated independently. At least for now.

After four hours of intensive work and receiving tens of punches and kicks from everybody Chuck sat on a chair and declared, 'I'm officially done. At least for today. You three crazy Amazons can go on until the world ends if you like.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Lisa said panting. 'Make that two crazy Amazons,' she sat next to him. 'I've had enough, people.'

'Amateurs!' Carina said, shaking her head, 'We've just warmed up, right Sarah?'

'Oh, … you have?' Sarah smirked at her. 'Because I haven't, … yet.'

'Oh, … oh, … do I sense some tension here?' Chuck chimed in. 'Between the two crazy Amazons, … ready to fight, … reenacting what, … Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, huh? Gladiators in Rome? _Way of the Dragon_?'

Both Sarah and Carina turned and glared at Chuck. 'What?' Sarah raised her voice in disbelief. 'You're back to your voyeur mode, aren't you?'

'Well,' Carina said, 'that's not such a bad idea; actually, let's fight for a prize, hmm … whoever wins, hmm …, gets to sleep with Chucky tonight. What say you, Sarah?' Carina uttered the last while winking at Sarah with her right eye as Chuck was on her left and couldn't see it.

Sarah turned again toward Chuck, still glaring.

'Great idea, Carina,' Sarah said decisively, while turning back to her, 'but you just shouldn't have winked at me. We are doing this for real.' She enunciated and took a fighter position narrowing her eyes on Carina.

'Huh, … what, … Sarah!' Chuck tried to protest.

But Sarah couldn't respond as Carina had already attacked her. Viciously.

They had been fighting for over three minutes in front of the rookies.

Carina successfully defended from one of Sarah's attacks and was able to surprise her with a really strong front kick in the stomach that sent Sarah on the floor.

'Well, Chuck,' Carina said panting heavily, 'it seems like by tomorrow morning I'll have learned much more about you than ever before,' she said throwing a quick glance at Chuck's groin area.

'You sure?' Sarah uttered while getting up.

'Well, at least I have my hopes,' Carina smiled.

Then Carina suddenly changed her position. She had abandoned her typical fighter pose with her left leg ahead and took a level position with her hands down waiting for Sarah to come closer.

Suddenly, Carina started a half-hearted punch attack with her right hand. Sarah immediately realized the deception. Then, in an instant, Carina's left leg sprang up violently in an inside crescent kick aiming at Sarah's jaw.

While Carina was really quick in her attempt Sarah was able to move her head to her left and position both her hands so that she could not only block the kick but catch and hold Carina's leg.

Only few fighters, and certainly only the most acrobatic ones were able to get out of this position with their leg trapped. If they are physically strong and acrobatic enough, they would still be able to jump with their right leg and try another inside crescent kick. Their trapped left leg, lying on the hands of the opponent would partially serve as a support base for their secondary jump and kick. But they would usually do that as a last resort, only as a desperate reaction to their other leg having been disabled.

In this case, it was part of Carina's plan. Even her second move had been a deception. Immediately after Sarah had caught her left leg, Carina's right one sprang and was flying toward Sarah's jaw. Half a second earlier than usual. Thus, she was able to surprise her opponent.

By the time Sarah realized Carina's second deception, it was too late. Carina's bare foot hit her in the area of her nose and upper lip.

Sarah dropped Carina's left leg and fell on the ground. Carina, with both her legs high in the air, fell down several feet away from her.

'Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!' somebody was squealing as if being slaughtered.

'Sarah!' Chuck jumped, followed by Lisa. Once they got to Sarah and Chuck turned her to look at her face he realized that it wasn't Sarah who had screamed. Her mind was slowly getting back and she was grimacing.

'Ohhhh,' Carina moaned. She was holding her left hip with both hands.

'Carina, what's wrong?' Chuck asked.

Carina was still breathing heavily and only able to moan. After 30 seconds of groaning quietly she uttered to Chuck:

'Chuck, uh, .. go get me uh, …some ice and some tranq, uh … something!' She moaned.

'Did you tear a tendon?' Lisa asked and then looked at Sarah who was now up and next to her, wiping her bleeding nose.

'Is it the back of the hip, Carina?' Sarah asked.

'Yeah, … I think so.' Carina said panting and nodding, ' my mobile … uh,… uh…, doctor Shapiro. … Here in LA. Call him, please. … He's my doctor.'

'The hamstring?' Sarah asked.

'Not sure, … I guess so.'

'Can you contract the leg?' Sarah asked.

'No, uh … are you crazy? Uh, I can't move it all!' Carina screamed at her while lying on her right side.

'Let me see,' Sarah said and tried to pull the pants of her training suit down.

'Oh, my god!' Sarah yelled horrified. She was staring at her leg with obvious disgust. 'You've got dark red, purple … lines, across the leg … looks like muscle fibers, … torn, uh … lots of muscle fibers. Oh, God!'

'Where is Chuck, … get me some painkillers, Sarah, … it's killing me …' Carina moaned quietly. 'And call the doctor, … please.'

Sarah rushed to the storage room and soon got back with a syringe. Once she gave Carina a shot she took Carina's mobile and called the doctor.

20 minutes later they put Carina on a stretcher and took her up, into the Orange Orange area, waiting for Dr. Shapiro's ambulance. It was a total mess as the place was in the middle of complete transformation. Sarah was obviously going back to some chicken sandwiches.

'Lisa,' Carina started once they were up there in the store. 'Will you come with me there to the clinic, please?'

'Of course, I'll be there all the time. Don't worry.'

'We're all coming there with you, Carina,' Sarah said. 'Just don't worry.'

**xxx**

Two hours later the ambulance arrived back at Dr. Shapiro's private clinic in Beverly Hills.

The doctor, in his early 50s, was waiting for them outside the clinic.

They rushed Carina inside and half an hour later Shapiro went out again and approached Chuck and the two girls.

'Well,' Chuck started, 'what's the sentence?'

'There are muscle fibers that are obviously torn.' Shapiro started. 'How many and whether she'll need surgery – difficult to say now. Tomorrow morning we're gonna run a series of tests on her and see where we are. She is sleeping now, fully sedated. Her pain will subside by tomorrow morning, so ...'

'Doctor, she asked me to stay with her, here, … uh …' Lisa started.

'No, no, there is now point, dear girl.' The doctor shook his head. 'I can see how tired all you are. She'll be sleeping and tomorrow morning undergoing tests. Your staying here makes no sense. It's not a life-threatening condition, so …' the doctor raised his shoulders.

'Her cell-phone will be either with me or her personal nurse. We'll stay in touch… This is by the way one of the best clinics in the world and I have known Carina's father since college and her mother for almost as long. Very close friends, so don't worry.' He smiled at them.

'Uh,' Sarah exhaled deeply, still thinking, 'I guess the doctor is right.'

Soon Sarah, Chuck and Lisa got into Chuck's car and drove away.

'So,' Chuck started, glancing at Sarah, 'you decided to lend me to Carina, huh, … for the night, … right?'

'Right,' Sarah chuckled. 'It was a joke, Chuck, I was winking at Carina while telling her I was serious.' She lightly punched him on his shoulder.

'Oh, that's how it is. Kung-fu humor, … right.' He pursed his lips.

'And what about you Chuck, you like a bunch of sweaty Amazons fighting in front of you, … for you, huh?' Sarah started now. 'Putting on some hottie show?' She pinched him really hard.

'Aaagh!' He screamed. "It was a joke Sarah, … you know that!' He looked at her. 'Right?'

'Yeah, all you men are such jokers.' She said. 'From A to Z … without exceptions.'

'What!' Chuck jumped. "You can't put me in the same category with everybody, with uh …'

'I was joking with you, Agent Joker.' Sarah punched him lightly on the shoulder. 'Lighten up. You're not the only one who is licensed to joke.'

'Agent Walker and Agent Joker.' Lisa said loudly. "Hmm, I like that, … sounds catchy. And you are such fun to watch.'

XXX

Once the car drove away, Dr. Shapiro turned around and rushed into his clinic. '_Crap! Finally! The moment has come.'_

He entered his private cabinet where Carina was sitting behind his desk and having her third banana with some vitamin concoction. She desperately needed to recover from the physical exhaustion a.s.a.p. She had just taken a quick shower and was still enveloped in a towel.

"I hope you're not gonna kill anybody.' The doctor started.

'Of course not.' She snorted. 'It's a family affair. I told you. I'm just in technical violation of the DEA rules, nothing serious or criminal. It will simply hurt my career. You know, up the ladder.' She added casually.

'Good,' the doctor sighed with some relief but he still looked not fully convinced. At least to Carina.

'Don't worry doc, those were three witnesses of my injury, tomorrow they'll see me again sedated here, the tests, then we are protected under the doctor-patient thing. And it's no big deal anyway, there won't be an investigation of such a minor family affair anyway.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Shapiro said. "_And after all I have no choice, do I?" _he though to himself for 17th time today.

_No, he didn't. While successful now, it was 4 years ago when Dr. Shapiro was deep in the red. And not only one but several of those Hollywood celebrities had sniffed him out. Their bodyguards had offered him really good money for prescribing this and that. _

Shapiro sighed sadly_. _

_He had had no choice. His practice was going down the drain. Nooo choice. So he started providing all these filthy rich Hollywood trashcans with painkillers, sedatives, whatever they needed._

_And then, this devilish girl popped out of nowhere._

He smiled at Carina.

Carina smiled back while sipping her vitamin cocktail. _Yeah, she thought. How lucky am I to have you now, doctor? _

_3 years ago she had decided to recruit a dirty doctor. Somebody who could provide her with an alibi when she would need it. It was child's play to find one. Several actually. You read a bunch of tabloids, have a nice dinner with one of these sleazy 'journalists' and voila. They were telling her everything in hope to impress and get her in their beds later. It took her less than a week to have a list of twelve celebrities who used 'stuff'. It took her another week to track down their providers, the dirty doctors. _

_Once Carina had installed microphones and hidden cameras in Shapiro's cabinet and documented his favors to a couple of pop singers and an actress, the doctor was in her hands._

_One beautiful morning she had popped up at his front door and 15 minutes later had been laying down, on his desk, photos of him signing prescriptions to certain bodyguards, and then audio recordings, supporting the videos. Then she showed him her badge. DEA special agent._

'_Relax, doctor,' she had said with a really soothing voice, 'your life is not finished, don't worry. I'm not here to arrest you. I will just need a small favor.'_

"_Uh, what … what favor?" the trembling doctor had asked._

'_You'll be my doctor, … that's all. When I am in LA and need medical attention, you'll be there for me.'_

'_And…?'_

'_That's all. Whether I need it, … __**or not**__, … you'll be there to provide it. That's all.' At that Carina had stood up and prepared to leave._

_Having reached the door, Carina had turned. 'Oh, two more things, doctor. You know why I picked you, out of so many candidates, in the area? You've studied at Stanford. My father studied there at the same time. That's how we know each other. Old friends with my dad.'_

'_What's his name?'_

'_I'll let you know when the time comes. No need to know now.' _

'_Uh, ok, … and the second thing?'_

'_Here is my phone number at the DEA, in DC, I want you to call me there one week from now. An operator will answer it and connect to me, ok?'_

'_Why?'_

'_Two reasons. I want you to be 100% sure that I'm indeed a federal agent and working for the government and second, we need to start socializing, so this will be part of it. I'll call you from time to time and visit you for a coffee when in LA. Socializing. OK?' Carina had smiled at her already good old friend. _

'_Yeah, yeah, no problem, uh …, is that all?' Shapiro had asked timidly._

'_Oh, I forgot, … one last thing.' Carina had pulled out one of her knives and tossed it, as strongly as she could, left of the doctor. _

_Utterly horrified, he had turned to see where it was now._

_Behind his desk, on the wall, there was a swimsuit calendar. Carina's knife had pierced the Swedish supermodel there right between her eyes._

'_Uhm … why … why would you do that, miss?'_

'_Oh, just to illustrate how disappointed I would be if you talk to somebody.' She had said icily. 'So, be professional. Doctor-patient confidentiality. You know the rules.'_

'_OK, OK, of course, doctor-patient … that's all you want right?'_

'_Right.' Carina had repeated. ' I need your medical attention whether I need it or not.'_

_There was something absurd in this sentence but the doctor was so horrified that his tormented mind wasn't able to figure it out at the moment._

_Carina had walked back to the calendar to pull her knife out._

_She narrowed her eyes at the small letters at the right down corner of the calendar to see the name of her victim. 'Oh, Mini Anden. Never heard of her, … you, … doctor? Nice suit, Mini.' _

_At that, Carina had finally left his office._

'Damn,' Shapiro cursed again. It was only now that he figured out the meaning of her words. She needed medical 'help' even when she _actually didn't need it_. She needed an alibi while she was somewhere else, doing who knows what. And he had no choice but to help her. She could destroy his entire life in a minute even find a way to kill him.

Oddly, Shapiro didn't feel too worried. Everything she had told him over the last three years, … well, she kept her word. Subconsciously, he had nothing on her in his mind, to make him doubt her words. She had never let him down. Whether it was a good or a bad thing, a threat or a promise, she had delivered exactly what she had told him.

Thus, now that she told him she was about to only get into some _technical violation_ of the rules, he instinctively took it at face value.

Well, what she had in mind this time was a bit beyond technical.

XXX


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: A necessary reminder from Part I of this story. Vincenzo Mazone was an enforcer for a mafia group in the US (which one remains to be seen) who killed Carina's family while they were hiding under witness protection. Then, he himself mysteriously ends up under the same witness protection program. Carina had used Chuck's intersect database to find his location and was waiting for an opportunity to get her hands on him.

Also, Carina's real name is Sandra, she just took her younger sister's first name, well, for a number of reasons.

**Many thanks to NickyR for her editing, I still make changes after it so the bad stuff is certainly mine. **

*****Warning!*** In the last segment, there is a torture scene, essentially a variation on a theme from a popular novel.**

**Chapter XII**

**So, You Are Officially A Monster Now, Right?**

**4:17 am, El Paso, Texas**

Carina's Toyota van was now entering the town. Yeah, Vincenzo had chosen El Paso to hide in. Born and grown up in Sicily, he was so used to its hot weather that he had most probably picked the Texan town because of the climate and the variety of Catholic churches there. Like so many other typical Italian mafiosi, he was deeply religious.

Carina had left Shapiro's clinic, got into her first car, and while in it, disguised herself as a slightly chubby, 38 year old Mexican woman, named Lupe Gomez, and then, 5 miles away, changed the car again before reaching a small, shabby airport. There, she chartered a small, old Cessna 182. Old but useful. It saved her several hours and unnecessary exposure to so many road cameras.

Having landed at Santa Teresa airport, she had gotten into this very special Toyota van. Several months ago she had stolen it from a drug gang in LA. They had modified the space under the back seat into a hiding compartment. It was big enough for her "cargo".

Carina parked the van in front of Vincenzo's house and looked around. Nobody. She jumped out of the van, took a large suitcase out of the trunk and strolled toward the front door.

Vincenzo hadn't taken any special precautions about the locks. There was no point. His only line of defense was _secrecy and anonymity_. Anything else would have been totally futile. If his whereabouts were to become known to any of his enemies, he could be snatched and killed on his way to his church or while shopping, … after all, he couldn't stay inside this house all the time. Extra security measures could only attract attention on him.

Carina needed less than a minute to pick the front door lock and disable the security system. She put a pair of soft fabric slippers over her shoes, opened the front door and stepped inside. Next, she put a pair of night vision goggles on and started scanning the place. It was absolutely vital to find out whether there were other people, potentially from the DOJ's witness protection program. The chances were minimal, but … .

Nobody on the ground floor. She went upstairs and listened through the doors of all three bedrooms there using audio enhancing device. Only one of the rooms had the air-conditioning working inside. After all, the Texan climate was a bit harder for Vincenzo than the soft, humid warmth of the Mediterranean.

With a tranq gun in her right hand she first check the other rooms. Nobody. Then she carefully opened the door and entered Vincenzo's bedroom. Now she could see his face clearly.

'_Nice to meet you while still alive, Vinnie,'_ Carina generously allowed herself a half-smile. "_Finally_."

She approached his bed and pressed a chloroform cloth on his face. Then, after checking his pulse, she landed into an arm-chair next to the bed, closed her eyes and exhaled as deeply as she possibly could. Her heart was pounding, madly. She couldn't even remember when was the last time every fiber of her body had been so … ecstatic.

_Another milestone in her life. The most important one, she thought._

_Carina had always thought of her existence as a set, consequent number of lives. Like a cat._

_Life number 1 ended when she was 9, with the murder of her parents and younger sister. That should have been her normal, real life, as it was supposed to be. Well, things turned out different for her. _

_Life No.2 comprised of the school years. Her inquisition period. The dark ages when she suffered so horribly and couldn't get over the loss of her family. Instead, she had developed her bizarre mental condition. It was particularly torturous as she wasn't able to do anything about it. She was just a powerless teenager, an anonymous student under the witness protection program, so limited in her actions. She had no power to go anywhere or do anything._

_The inquisition ended when the FBI offered her to work for the government and opened so many doors for her. She developed capabilities, skills, secretly accumulated significant capital, recruited people who had provided her with priceless expertise and equipment. Pedantic, meticulous, she didn't rush anywhere. Step by step, taking every precaution, she had been working so hard to reach this moment. That was Life number 3._

'_Well, life number 3 was about to end very soon.' She narrowed her eyes, as they were focused on her sleeping target. _

She could feel it in her guts how this was the most critical period of her life. She had had so many fears about this mafia thug dying of a heart attack; or being transferred to another location before she got her hands on him. It had been beyond her powers. Until now.

Well, now, it was up to her skills not to leave any traces for the authorities, extract all the information Vincenzo had in his head without killing him and then find the best way to dispose of him. Without leaving any traceable evidence of course.

She opened her eyes and pulled out a locket under her shirt. With the night goggles still on, she was able to see it in the dark. She didn't need to open it. The image inside was imprinted in her head much clearer than she could actually see it. Every time she had opened it, she had stared at it, mesmerized, … hypnotized.

She quickly slipped the locket back under her shirt. _It was time for action, and not getting carried away by poetry_, she scolded herself.

Carina pulled out a sweeping device and checked Vincenzo for microphones and GPS trackers. … Yeah, the watch, and only the watch. How original!

15 minutes later she was again at the front door with Vincenzo inside her huge suitcase. She spread a slow, methodical, inquisitive look across the surroundings to make sure she was not making any mistakes.

Then, she took a small plastic envelope out of her inside pocket, pulled a hair out of it, and placed it on the floor. Next, she took a small pipette that contained several milliliters of blood. She removed the cap and shook the pipette, trying to spill one or two small drops of blood with a plausible velocity for a walking man spilling his own blood. Then she opened the front door and stepped out towing the large and now so heavy suitcase after her.

Few minutes later she was back inside Vincenzo's house, this time wearing large men's shoes and made a series of steps imitating a heavier and slightly taller than her man. At the end of her deception exercise she threw three tablets on the floor. Interacting with the air, those tablets would destroy all traces of Carina's body smell in the next 30 minutes with the tablets themselves disappearing in the air.

'_That's the advantage of being a government agent whose job involved both discovering physical evidence and undercover agent whose job involve secret ops, where the need of leaving zero traces is paramount_,' she thought to herself with a wide grin.

Xxx

**9 am, CIA underground facility, Langley, Va.**

John Casey sat down on his desk and sighed real deep. Then he started studying satellite images of Iranian nuclear facilities. He was here for almost a week now and was studying and studying, 14 hours a day.

Not that his other life was much more exciting. The only people he had communicated with since getting here were Agent 20, and a couple of technicians from this underground bunker. From here, he was driving back to his hotel, then back to work next morning.

Releasing another deep sigh, Casey realized that he was missing Burbank, the operations of team Bartowski, even the silliness of the Buy More crowd. '_Could you believe that John?_' he asked himself.

'Nope!' he answered loud then.

But this new op looked so exciting. Very dangerous, but …. he wondered whether the new administration would actually have the guts to go for it.

An old friend of his was coming back to Fort Meade tomorrow, so he would finally have a normal talk with somebody of his league.

While reading a detailed description of the new, enhanced security measures at Natanz, Casey finally realized that he was being watched. There was somebody behind him. He turned his head and realized that his eyes were about to pop out of their orbits.

There was a really nice young, black-haired girl there, smiling gently at him. He knew her somehow so he grimaced while trying to remember where from.

"_The Mossad girl. … From … Prague. They were there together with Carina, some join op._'

'Hi, John,' she offered him her hand. 'I can see that you remembered me, right?'

'Yeah, from Prague, … uh, …' he was trying to remember her name.

'My real name is David, … Ziva David...' she went on.'I was undercover there, it was just a cover name, so … .' she waved her hand.

'The Mossad, I know.' Casey growled approvingly.

'Actually, no. I'm with the NCIS now.'

'Really?'

'I had been Mossad's liason here, at the NCIS for over three years. But I resigned from the Institute two weeks ago.'

'Hmm, … ' Casey released his most skepticism-flavored grunt.

At this very moment Agent 20 rushed in and interrupted him. 'Actually yes, colonel Casey,' he said obviously listening to their exchange. 'She is a US agent now, and the integrity of this op is my job, so you stick to yours.'

'Yes, sir,' Casey barked.

'And by the way, there is no coincidence in her family name, … I mean David. General Eliah David, the head of Mossad is her father.' Agent 20 looked at him sternly. 'Although her personal relationship with him hasn't been easy, …'

'That would be the understatement of the century, …' Ziva interjected.

'Thank you, … agent David,' Agent 20 glared at her. 'May I continue now?'

''I'm sorry, boss.'

'General David has been ordered by his boss, and that would be their PM, to fully cooperate with us. Ziva, with her intimate knowledge and connections within the Mossad is perfectly positioned to make sure of that. And she has some other special skills you may have heard of.'

'_Hmm, I see,_' Casey thought to himself. '_Israeli assassin, I remember.'_

Agent 20 was staring at Casey, as if trying to read his mind. _"No, Casey, it's not what you think. She had other skills I'm so excited about."_

'I want you two to get to know each other as you will work together.' Their new boss went on. 'After lunch break Ziva will take you to a DARPA facility where you both will be trained to navigate our newest UAV models and to store and handle RDX-I-13.'

'RDX?' Casey furrowed. 'I know how to deal with RDX.'

'This is RDX-I-13, colonel,' Ziva chimed in, 'the I is for isomer and 13 is for 13 times more powerful than the standard RDX. "

Casey whistled. '_RDX was the most powerful explosive, so this must be …'_

'Yes, colonel,' Agent 20 added, reading his mind, again 'it is anywhere between conventional and nuclear, but it is significantly more unstable, so I need your full attention. You don't want to blow up both yourself and the mission, do you?'

'No sir, of course not.' A furrowing Casey barked.

'Good, … well, agents, from now on, you two are the best possible friends, that's an order. This mission is so sensitive that we can't afford even the tiniest mistake. The interaction between you two must be ... exemplary, ... perfect.' With that, Agent 20 turned around and stepped out of the room.

'Well, John,' Ziva started while smiling at him, 'I'll be back here at 13,00 to take you to the DARPA facility.'

'Hmm, sure, … sure,' Casey said, narrowing his eyes. 'I'll be ready here.'

xxx

**12:15 am, Dr. Shapiro's clinic**

Carina had just got back into her room and was now lying in the bed. She was expecting Shapiro to come in, probably any moment.

_Everything had gone according to plan. Once her 'treatment here was over, she would be moved to a mansion close to the clinic. Shapiro used it for those patients who needed close, 24-hour monitoring, or, as was the case with Carina, physical therapy procedures. _

_What her doctor didn't know was that Carina had rented a house of her own, just three blocks away from the clinic's and equipped the basement there with everything she needed to interrogate the former mafia enforcer. She had hired a Mexican woman, one of the millions of Californian illegal immigrants to take care of her "terminally ill uncle" during the day. Night and early morning, it would be Carina's time to deal with her poor, poor 'uncle' Vinnie._

Knock, knock.

'Who is it,' Carina asked.

'Shapiro.'

'Come in.'

Dr. Shapiro rushed in. He was holding all sorts of papers in his hands. Computer printouts, both sheets and rolls, diagrams, and tables with test results.

'Isn't all that a bit too much?' Carina asked.

'No, I mean if it were only for the injury, yeah, but I need to get you through some general testing if there would be an operation, so … it's just about right.' Shapiro tried to stay professional and not asked any questions.

'OK, good thinking, doc.' Carina flashed him an approving smile.

xxx

**13:10 pm, Sarah's Hotel Suite**

Sarah, her cousin Lisa, and Chuck were finishing their lunch.

'Well?' Sarah asked. "How do you find the food? Do I stand a chance with all these subway sandwiches and stuff, mmm, … or I better stick to the CIA, … forever?'

Sarah had started her question casually, but as far as Lisa could tell, the last part sounded kind of serious. Chuck had lifted his eyes from his sandwich and was stammering something now.

'_Wow,'_ Lisa exclaimed to herself. '_These two are heading for one of those conversations.'_

'Not bad, cousin, … ' Lisa replied as casually as she could, 'not bad, … for junk food, I mean. Excuse me, … my cell.'

Lisa took her phone out of her pocket.

'Ha, it's Carina. Hey boss, how are you? Uh-huh, … good.' She made a signal to Sarah and Chuck that Carina was ok.

'Say hi from us, Lisa.' Chuck said loudly while still chewing on something. 'And tell her that we miss her, hmm … without her manipulative excellency, I feel kinda lost here, life is not the same. Iit's boredom copulated with uh … boredom.'

Lisa chuckled. 'Carina, you heard that? Ah, …eok.' Lisa pressed a button on her mobile so everybody could hear.

'Hi, Chuck,' Carina said loudly, 'yeah, manipulative, you think that's funny? You know, I haven't forgotten.'

'Forgot, … forgotten what?' Chuck furrowed.

'To the victor go the spoils, Chuck. The fight with Sarah, remember? I won, so …, prepare to be well-manipulated real soon. Now that would be funny.'

'Ah-ah-ah,' Chuck started,' raising his finger, 'technically Carina, I'm not so sure …'

'What Chuck?' Carina pretended to be pouting. 'A jealous Sarah is pinching you now, right? So you …?'

'No, … no,' Chuck protested, 'she is far away from me and can't pinch. Tell her Lisa.'

'True, boss' Lisa confirmed, 'Sarah's too far from him to pinch. She still can do a lot with her leg under the table, though …'

'Spare me the details, please.' Carina said. 'I'm rolling my eyes here, as you can imagine.'

'Actually, technically, Carina, you lost,' Chuck insisted ignoring their comments, 'umm, you got injured so you couldn't continue, I mean the fight.'

Sarah was silent during the entire exchange, resting her head on her hand, smirking and gently shaking her head.

'Oh,' Carina exclaimed in a deliberately fake way, 'so now you want to add salt to my wound, dontcha? Thank you, Chucky, but I'm gonna take this particular dispute to the courts. I know my rights. You'll be hearing from my lawyer pretty soon.'

Then she cleared her throat. 'Hmm, can we now talk in private, Lisa?'

Sarah's cousin pressed again a button on her cell-phone and talked with Carina for another minute.

'She needs me to get her a laptop and a bunch of books,' she said. 'Her stay there at the clinic is killing her, so I'm off people.' Lisa stood up, thinking, '... and besides you have a lot to talk about.'

'Well, Chuck,' Sarah started once Lisa was gone, 'what do you think of the subway food?'

'Actually, uh, … I liked it, you know. Even if you actually haven't prepared it, mmm, it reminded me of our Meadow branch cul-de-sac stay, uh … the morning, remember? When you made this breakfast for me and the dog, … for us. So …'

'So, … what about it?' Sarah asked playfully, cocking her head.

'You and me, having a normal life, like a normal couple, is that where you're heading?' Chuck said hesitantly.

'Mm-hmm, don't you think this is uh … sort of a good idea or something?' Sarah really tried to sound casual.

'Actually, ...you first, you know the rule, ... ladies first. So tell me what you think.' With that Chuck took a large bite at the remaining sandwich leaving Sarah in disbelief.

'Hah,' she jumped up slightly, 'so you hide behind a sandwich instead of telling me how you see your life, is that it?'

Chuck's mouth was still full with food so he just waved his hands.

'Fine, I'm first,' she rolled her eyes and sighed. 'I don't know Chuck. I was thinking of it, especially this day, you know, … I mean Ellie and Devon's wedding, and I tried to picture it …'

'And …, what did you see?' he said with his mouth still full.

'Actually it worked. I could imagine us like a normal couple and thought it _was_ a good idea, … our future, but then ....'

'But …?' he frowned.

'But then, you know, the new dangers, the new enemies popped up immediately, and you had to do this, upload this new intersect, so, I think you made this decision for both of us.'

'Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right,' he was thinking. 'But I had to, Sarah.'

Chuck pursed his lips. He was thinking. 'It seems to me now, that, hmm … what my father has started, cannot be turned back. We all became extensions to this government project, that my father has created. It's bigger than any of us. We have to finish it first.'

Sarah was still gazing at him, so Chuck stopped. "What?"

'Nothing … just,' she flashed him a soft smile.

'What, … what do you think?'

'You know, it's funny, … that day, your sister's wedding, when I decided to stay with you,' she drew another deep breath, 'I imagined us as a normal couple, … and I just told you that, but then …'

'Then what?' Chuck asked nervously.

'Then I realized that now we can be a real couple, in _this_ world, the spy world. We are still young Chuck. We deserve the excitement and uh, … I don't know, the high stakes, it makes our lives worth living. Fifteen, twenty years from now, we still can turn into an ordinary couple, bury ourselves in one of those suburbs.'

'Oh, so you want the adventure, huh, … I see.' Chuck said pondering.

'And besides,' Sarah went on, pointing at her head, 'as I said, it was you who chose to put this thing back into your head, remember? I was angry with you at the beginning, but then …'

'But now the mischievous and adventurous Sarah took over, case closed.' Chuck clamped his lips. 'Issue resolved, right?'

'Oh, no, ... no, … once this is over we'll find your father and see if he can again de-intersect you, whether it is safe, so you make the final decision. It's only for you to decide Chuck, … whether your mouth is full, or not.' She winked at him. 'You won't be able to hide then.'

She leaned toward him and pinched his belly. 'That's for hiding behind a subway sandwich.'

Chuck was thinking while still chewing some food. 'So, essentially, all you just said, was … a smoke screen? It'll be for me to decide, right?'

'You got it right, Einstein,' Sarah smiled triumphantly, 'it's in your head, not mine, uh … sorry.'

XXX

**Seven days later, Beverley Hills, a house basement, six blocks away from Dr. Shapiro's clinic, 9:20 pm**

Vincenzo's brain was slowly recovering from another sedative. It was his seventh day here but he had lost his sense of time long ago – when he had gone to bed in El Paso. For the very last time in his life.

He realized that for the first time, ever since this had happened to him that he wasn't lying, but sitting on a chair, still totally immobilized, even his head. It was such a relief for his body to be in a different position, however. The terrible cold was gone. And so was his unbearable allergy, well, almost. The terrible, impossible itching, all over his body, had subsided dramatically. He sighed with some relief. _It was over. Finally_.

Although it was still completely dark here, he opened his eyes and tried to roll them in all directions, gathering and splitting them as well. _Exercise, exercise, you'll need your eyes, warrior, he tried to cheer himself up. His head was killing him, as if after heavy, all day binging._

While exercising his eyes, he started realizing that there was some dim light now gradually emerging several feet in front of him. There was a silhouette, of another person, sitting on a chair. He closed his eyes and pressed them hard, then opened and tried to focus on the person in front of him blinking.

It was a girl, ... young, red-haired girl. She looked Italian, from the north of course. Her face was as white as the winter Italian Alps. He shuddered. _Was it the mafia after all?_

Sandra had put on some make-up in order to look as young as possible. As close as she had looked when she was 9-year old. Vincenzo had come to her grandfather's home to drop Carlo a couple of times, so he and then-Sandra had seen each other.

Vincenzo tried to focus on her again. She was holding a book in her hands and reading it. '_How old was this girl?'_

Sandra raised her hands a bit and was now close enough to him so he could see the book cover.

The title was a number. He could see the big digits. _1984_. It was vaguely familiar but his tormented mind couldn't tell how. Even more irritating to him was her face, very familiar and yet, he had no idea where from.

Sandra pretended as if she had just realized he was awake.

'Ah, ciao, Vinnie, … ti ricordi di me?' she said casually, 'E' tanto che non ci vediamo.'(Remember me? Long time no see.)

'_Italian speech._' he anxiously thought to himself. It took him back to the past few days. Now he vaguely remembered that he had talked to somebody in Italian. To whom and what, he couldn't say, couldn't remember.

'I can't, … I can't remember,' he said in Italian, his voice slightly trembling. 'Who are you?'

'As banal as it sounds Vinnie,' she went on, smirking, 'and it is indeed so banal, … your worst nightmare.'

'Oh, you can't be that bad,' he laughed nervously. He was still racking his brains, trying to figure out whose was this face.

'We'll see,' she said casually, raising her shoulders. 'Who knows? After all maybe I'm not. Maybe the title 'your worst nightmare' belongs to somebody else, … or something else.'

'Anyway, I am Carlo Falcone's granddaughter, Vinnie,' she lightly tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, 'the one you missed, ... missed to kill, … remember?'

"_Oh, Dio Mio!," _he exclaimed to himself, horrified, ' _... so it's a personal vendetta!' _

Vincenzo had been in many difficult situations in the past and always able to get out without much damage. He needed to gather his thoughts. _After all this_ _was just a girl, a young girl, maybe he could outfox her somehow._

'Oh, I remember now,' he started softly, sighing deeply, 'I'm so sorry, uh …'

"Sandra, my name is Alessandra.'

'I know, Vinnie, I know everything,' she said dismissively. 'You've already spilled it. The shadow consigliere who ordered it, the one who pulls the strings from Italy, and his wife who insisted, who was afraid of possible revenge … as she so often visits the US ...'

_'What, ... how ... did I say all that, ... when?'_ Vincenzo was horrified. _'What else did she … ?'_

'It's your seventh day here Vinnie.' She reminded. 'Since I picked you up from El Paso, I mean. For seven days your stupid brain … or mind, whatever it is, has been under my total control, not yours. I learned everything I needed. About the New York district attorney, John Gutierrez, on your payroll, who arranged for you to go under the witness protection.'

She stopped for a second to let the news sink in.

'You couldn't resist it, Vinnie. You told me even about your mission there.' She winked at him. 'You sending back, to your bosses, personal information about the officers of the witness protection program who crossed your path. So that the mafia can track them down, to recruit or just monitor and figure out where they hide other witnesses. Clever. Your Italian capo is very clever.'

Now Vincenzo was utterly terrified. He felt totally helpless. 'How did you …'

'Doesn't matter. It's over, Vinnie. And I don't have much time for this belated socializing you know. Now I'm going after those who gave the order, your boss and his wife.'

'What … uh, what do you want from me then, girl? Revenge? Torture, … uh, ... kill me?' He was stammering now. _He didn't have the time to talk her out of it._

'Kind of. First, I want you to know who you were messing with. You know,' she randomly gesticulated with her hands, 'an ego trip of mine, … I just can't resist it.'

She pulled out the locket under her shirt and approached him. She opened the lid and placed it in front of his eyes so he could see it clearly.

Vincenzo tried to focus on it. Another vaguely familiar image. He couldn't remember where and how he knew it.

'I-I don't understand.' He uttered.

'Of course you don't.' It took her several minutes to explain.

Vincenzo's eyes had gone wide open. "Oh-ohhhh,' he exclaimed, mesmerized. 'I see.' He exhaled sadly. He was thinking for several seconds.

'Well, I wish you luck, signorina, in your mission, but most probably you'll fail. You're only one girl, and this is a very powerful organization.'

'And I work for a very powerful organization,' she retorted, 'and use its resources, you know, the SISMI.'

She was carefully watching for his reaction. There were microscopic traces of a smile on his lips.

"_Yeah, most probably your consigliere has good connections within the Italian security establishment. It'd be too unprofessional not to._' she said to herself. '_Thank you for the heads up._'

Then, suddenly, Vincenzo heard some noise.

'Whu-what was that?' he asked nervously. _Scratches. Some kind of creatures were scratching on something. Screeching._ He winced. '_Ugh! Must be rats._' He so hated rats.

_Yeah, she remembered that so well. One day Vincenzo and his goons had dropped by her grandfather's house, and Vinnie had seen a mouse in their kitchen and totally freaked out. He ordered his thugs to find and shoot it and rushed out of Carlo's house. The goons had laughed out loud, looked around and followed their boss._

_Sandra had been hiding in the dark of the adjacent room and witnessed the entire scene. After Vincenzo and his people were gone, she had heard her granddad telling his wife the story behind his irrational fear. How Voncenzo's mother was trying to scare him as a small boy in his distant and poor Sicilian village 50 years ago. _

"_Stop bullying your sister Vinnie, or tonight I'll leave you out,' her mom had threatened him,' in the cold, on the street, to the rats. Remember that small baby, two blocks away?' _

_He most certainly did remember. He hadn't seen the remains of the attacked baby, but heard the kids in the street talking about it. They had left the baby unattended for less than a minute. It was more than enough for the rats in this poor, poor Sicilian village to get to him._

It was now time for Vincenzo to taste the terror he had spread to his victims. In a highly concentrated form.

'Remember this book, Vinnie?' Sandra raised her hand with the book in it, '_1984_, George Orwell. Room 101. The rats? These days they study it at school. Well, we'll be reenacting it here.'

Yeah, now he remembered well. He hadn't read the book, but heard from friends what it was about.

'What, … why, … you, why rats?'

She opened the book and started reading to him, the entire chapter.

'_Exposing the face of your victim to hungry, vicious rats._' He thought totally terrified.

'It was a common punishment in Imperial China.' Carina read from the book. 'What a bunch of barbarians, huh?'

She rose and disappeared into the darkness. 15 seconds later she got back towing a trolley with a box on it. It had a black front side so he couldn't see what's in it. But he certainly could hear noises, intense squealing.

'Two rats in here, Vinnie, very hungry,' she pointed out.

'What? You can't do that to me, … you-you're not some crazy sadist,' he yelled desperately but he uttered the last without much conviction. '_Was she actually crazy?_' He wasn't sure anymore.

'You think?' She slightly raised her voice in fake surprise. 'Well, I take umbrage at that. The not crazy part. Let me tell you what I went through, and then you decide if I am crazy or not, okay?'

'When I was nine I had to look at and identify the corpses of my parents. As you had placed the bomb somewhere along the central axis of the car, the right side of my dad's face was so burned out that I could see the bones, hell, you could see down to his skull. And so was my mum's left side. And my 5-year old sister, at the back seat. She was fully recognizable. But still so very dead,' … she went on without revealing any emotion.

'_Oh,_' Vincenzo moaned to himself. '_I'm so screwed. We should've gone after this little snake and killed her. So the signora was right, you kill them all, or … . Think, think, think!' _

'I'm really sorry … uh, Sandra,' he tried to sound repentant. 'You know, if I hadn't carried the order, somebody else would have. And you already know who gave the order.'

'Well, as you know, my granddad chose to do the right thing and expose all this entire criminal craze. As did many others.' She approached him and stared at his gray, tired, and now totally horrified eyes, ' … and so could have you, Vinnie.' she enunciated. ' ... So could you. But you've chosen to be a rat. Not only did you _not_ do the right thing but you specialized in infiltrating witness protection. How twisted is that, huh? … See? You can't win me over with that kind of crap.' she was still having total control over her voice.

'So, … what happened to me next?' Sandra had made another pause to let her last words sink in. 'Year after year, I agonized, tried to get over it, and developed this, … schizophrenia. Modern psychiatry calls it multiple personality disorder. Yeah, a significant percentage of the schizophrenics actually realize their problem, no denial, they just can't get over it.' She was strolling around while talking now. 'I read every psychiatry book to see what was going on with me. It's considered incurable.'

Vincenzo was breathing heavily. He could now feel the panic taking over. 'You need help, you …'

"See how I can talk about this?' She had turned to him, 'without any emotion, even about your incoming torture and horrible death? … That's how sociopaths are, Vinnie. Totally emotionless and insensitive toward the pain and the suffering of other people. Milosevic, Sadam Hussein, all went through horrible torture or mental trauma in their early years. I read their files. That's how they became insensitive to the suffering of others. I guess that's how you all have become the brutes you are, Vinnie. Somebody had screwed you up really bad when you were younger. It's the abc of psychiatry, I don't even need you to confirm it.'

She turned around and leaned over the box to check something.

'Soon, dear, soon,' she sang to them. 'Name is John, of the bigger rat, I mean.' she was pointing at the box. The smaller one is Chuck, or Chucky as I call him. You'll get to know them pretty soon.'

'You have to end your own miserable existence, you crazy bitch!' a panicked Vincenzo quietly hissed at her. He was totally losing control of his thoughts, voice. The idea of those squealing and scratching rats attacking his face, going after his eyes was taking over his mind. Their stench had already reached him.

'Hmm, right Vinnie, you're right. But I'm going to kill myself only after I finish with you and the shadow consigliere. And his wife of course.' She winked at him. 'Or who knows. After I get my closure, I may actually calm down. Get back to normal, everything's possible in this world.'

'You, crazy …!' he wanted to yell but his voice was abandoning him. Something unintelligible had come out of his mouth instead.

Carina punched him in the jaw and while he was still dizzy from the blow, managed to duct tape his mouth shut.

'There is nothing more that I need to hear from you.' Sandra said calmly. 'So you shut up. You probably forgot that I'm the one who has 100% control over you.' She smiled at him.

"So,' she went on in her typical emotionless fashion, 'where were we? Ah, the rats. Here is what will happen once I strap the box to your face and then slid up its front door.'

She sat on her chair and started reading from Orwell's book again.

'_These starving brutes will shoot out of it like bullets. Have you ever seen a rat leap through the air? They will leap on to your face and bore straight to it. Sometimes they attack the eyes first.'_

Carina made a pause. 'Remember the bible, Vinnie? An eye for an eye. Well, I saw my parents in the morgue. Each of them had just lost one eye thanks to your car bomb. So it's two of my parents' eyes for two of yours. Sounds fair to me.' she winked at him again, carefully observing the effect of her words.

Vincenzo was trying to control the horror, the panic. An alpha male, he was desperately and feverishly trying to figure out something. But the horror of the incoming was taking over and he couldn't resist it. He couldn't think anymore. He couldn't say a word anyway. She had deprived him even from the opportunity to scream or beg, humiliate himself.

Carina returned to the book. 'Sometimes they burrow through the cheeks and devour the tongue.'

'Do you want me to continue, Vinnie?' she asked gently.

He was trying to signal that he didn't.

'Ok, ok, I won't. And I don't have the time for all this snobbish exercise in contemporary English literature, anyway. And you're not a literature buff after all, are you?'

She stood up and leaned over him again.

'But there is the really bad news for you Vinnie. In this book they use the rats only to break their victim, so he starts screaming, begging them to do it to his love, Julia, instead on him and after that, they leave him alone. They don't need him dead, just his spirit, his soul totally broken. A sorry shadow of himself.'

'Your case is different. I can't let you live. It'll compromise my operation. _And most importantly, I don't need to break you. I need you to feel some of the horror I felt for over ten years._'

She made another pause. 'So, we'll have to proceed with this, to the very end.' she tapped him on his shoulder. "_Yeah_," she thought, "_his eyes are already radiating horror, insane horror." _

Sandra looked at her watch.

'Hmm,' she cleared her throat, 'it'll take one to two minutes for John and Chucky, the rats you know, to reach your brain or for you to bleed to death. An eye for an eye Vinnie, remember? My nine years of suffering, against your one minute, minute and a half, tops. Not such a bad deal after all.'

She could see how he was going mad. She drew the trolley closer and turned it at 90 degrees. Vinnie could see now through the left, transparent side of the box. Two gigantic rats there, obviously in different compartments. They were ecstatic about something. Squealing like mad.

She pushed the trolley with the box closer to his face. Vincenzo looked like he was making desperate efforts to tear himself off the chair. To no avail. He was so tightly strapped that he couldn't have moved. Even his head was fixed to the board behind him. Now he couldn't even say a word. He was screaming inside, muffled sounds going out but Sandra looked totally unmoved.

'Could you hear the rats squealing, scratching? I have kept them hungry for more than 24 hours, for you Vinnie.'

She drew the trolley even closer to him. The box was now about 10 inches away from him. He could smell the stench as if it was coming from inside his head. Their horrible odor had hit him directly into the nostrils. He could hear their squealing and scratching real loud. The horror was shutting down his brain.

Sandra leaned in and started whispering to him. 'So, that's it, Vinnie. I will press this end of the box to your face and slid up this separation to let the rats loose. You earned it. Once you do something horrible to people, a vicious circle is started. For you the circle ends here. For me, after dealing with the rest of your criminal organization, and especially this shadow consigliere, I'll kill myself so this whole madness is finally over. Enjoy your end.'

'Ciao Vinnie!'

With that Sandra pressed the dark side of the box to his face and used the straps hanging from its sides to tighten it to the board behind his head. Then she switched the lights off.

Sandra leaned toward him and said. "I'm letting the rats loose in ten seconds.'

'Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, …'

Click.

She had pulled the separation wall up so the rats rushed ahead exactly as Orwell had predicted in his famous novel. She could see that through the left transparent side plane of the box.

But the rat, as it was only one that she released couldn't reach his face. Only the tip of Vincenzo's nose. About two inches away from his face, there was another, painted in black, plastic separation wall so Vinni couldn't see it. It had a small hole in the middle so the rat could only reach and scratch his nose while squealing ferociously, scratching and biting the wall instead.

After 15 seconds she unstrapped his head and moved the trolley away.

She took a flashlight, turned it on and pointed at Vinnie's right eye, … then the left. Tey were lifeless. His brain had definitely short-circuited. She removed the tape from his mouth. He was uttering something unintelligible, some sort of grunting.

Sandra sat down on her chair and exhaled deeply. She knew all too well what was about to happen now.

Little Carina popped out in front of her, casting one of her sternest glances at her elder sister.

'So,' little Carina started, 'now you are officially a monster, congratulations! That was inhumanly cruel, you know that, right?'

'Tell me something I don't know, little sis,' Sandra retorted.

'Oh, and that's all?'

'What, what do you expect me to say?'

'I was hoping for a rebuttal, a long and complicated explanation how the government failed to deliver justice, how you suffered in the morgue while staring at our dead bodies, what a brute this Vincenzo is, was, is.'

'See,' Sandra said bitterly, 'you know the drill. I don't need to explain anything to you. And you forget the most important reason. I'm not mellowing. Not until this mission is over. If I get soft, there will be a mistake, a trace left somewhere and it'll be a "mission failed". I simply can't afford that. His brain had to be shut down. I don't want to kill a defenseless person.'

'Oh, scruples. You didn't want to kill him.' her little sister rolled her eyes. 'Just torture him in this … despicable way.'

'It's called revenge, Carina. He had to suffer a tiny part of what I went through.'

'A tiny part? This was pure terror. Although only his nose was scratched, you know, this was unhuman. The mental suffering.'

'And I don't even pretend to be a human, little sister. I'm not 'the good guy'. And this is not a Hollywood movie or something. I think we'd cleared that.'

Sandra had raised her voice.

'I'm a warrior. My mission is to shut down this criminal gang and I'm doing it the best way. Once it is over, the warrior will be shut down. End of story.'

'Oh, this reminds me,' little Carina furrowed, 'so you plan on killing yourself, right? Killing me in the process and this new guy, that got here from nowhere, Bryce … what was his name?'

'Larkin, Bryce Larkin.' Sandra uttered, 'and yeah, after it's over, if I don't get closure, … don't get well, here,' Sandra pointed at her head, 'I'll have to kill myself.'

'Thank you, sis,' Carina said sarcastically, nodding her head. 'You really know how to take care of your loved ones.'

'Yes, I do, little sister, I actually do.' With that Sandra shook her head to get rid of the image and checked on Vincenzo again.

She kept him there for three more days, just to make sure he was totally incommunicable.

A week later a Mexican gang, specialized in smuggling people into the US, transferred him out of the country, and another seven days later, Vincenzo, sitting in a wheelchair, was delivered to the gate of a shabby asylum in the small Chilean town of Puerto Cisnes.

xxx


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Here we are, finally. The denouement. Well, at least the beginning of the end. 25 chapters after the very first one, all these strange and mysterious changes that took place immediately after Chuck uploads Intersect 2.0 are now getting their explanation, step by step. Once Sarah was taken away from Chuck in chapter 1, being summoned to Washington, and Carina sent there to replace her, people started scolding me. Whyyy? :)))

People want their favorite couple together and that's it.

Well, … I don't. I want Sarah reserved for me, **exclusively**. So, whoever is interested in Chuck, for whatever (legal) purposes, please PM me and I'll hook you up.

Seriously, let's see at least some of the pieces of the puzzle being finally placed where they are supposed to be.

Special thanks to my editor **NickyR **again, who took some really big scissors this time and started cutting large chunks out of this chapter. Kidding. She just delicately suggested it. Sneaky as I am, I decided to comply, for the moment of course ,and will plop it into a later chapter without telling her.

**Chapter XIII**

**You Heard It Right, Sarah! Eliminate Chuck Bartowski!**

**One month later, A hotel suite somewhere in the Greater LA area, 1:30 pm**

Sarah, her cousin Lisa, Chuck, and Carina had changed hotels several times in order to stay under the radar during the training. It was their last gathering now or at least that's how they felt. Next day Lisa was taking a commercial flight to Washington DC, from where she was supposed to get to Quantico for the first of several courses her new job required.

Chuck, Sarah and Carina were going to Washington DC as well, but on a military plane. There, they were to be joined by general Beckman, Agent 20, John Casey and Ziva David. Their next destination was nine thousand miles away down to the south of the Indian ocean. The USAF/Navy installations in Diego Garcia. There, they were supposed to be joined by the rest of the international team of agents, for their last two weeks of joint training before each of them was to go back to different places around the world. Each of them was supposed to acquire the identity of somebody who was just about to visit Iran for some reason.

Chuck for example, already with a very impressive German, was supposed to replace an Austrian professor in computer sciences from the Vienna University. He was invited by the Tehran university for a number of lectures there. His first task was to identify Iranian physicists with nuclear or any other WMD background. Then, Sarah would join him and they would disappear from the picture. Changing their appearance to people looking like native Iranians from a small village adjacent to Natanz, they would wait for the final part of their mission. They were to fly four UAV's at only 5 feet above the ground with RDX-i-13 tipped missiles along a carefully selected route before going up, launching their missiles and self destructing themselves in the air. That would guarantee the penetration of the Natanz underground bunkers where the centrifuges were still spinning, still enriching uranium.

Sarah was supposed to enter Iran as a flight attendant. The Iranian airlines were leasing airplanes from Eastern European airline companies with their entire crews to fly internally. She looked like a 100% Ukrainian of Polish origin anyway. Once in Tehran, she was supposed to get a bad case of flu on the second day and call in sick. And disappear from there. The contract was already signed. Once she finished her part of the mission she was supposed to go back and fly throughout Iran for the rest of the contract.

'Well,' Chuck raised his hand, holding a glass of red wine, 'To Lisa! We are all looking forward to seeing you back here joining our team. By the way, when, uh..., when is that supposed to happen?'

'I guess it'll be in about 3 months or so,' Carina announced. 'Cheers, everybody, to Lisa and her bright, bright future!'

Xxx

**Next Day, Washington DC, Andrews AF base, 06:05 am**

An USAF C-17, carrying Chuck, Sarah and Carina, had just landed and was taxiing.

Stepping down the ladder, Chuck looked ahead. He could see in the distance, 200 feet away from him, John Casey, cocking his head and staring back at them. Next to him, there stood the really tiny figure of general Beckman. Chuck waved at them. He was wondering how they would get along considering their history. He knew he wasn't exactly the military type, obeying orders the way Casey used to.

They had used the night to get to DC, and were now supposed to have breakfast with Casey, Beckman and Agent 20. Then, all back into the airplane for 9,000 more miles down to the Indian ocean atoll of Diego Garcia.

'_There are marvelous beaches there, Chuck,_' Sarah had told him. '_You're gonna love them.'_

_He remembered his last night's conversation with Ellie and Devon. Already aboard an air carrier somewhere in the Mediterranean, with her voice distorted by the thousands and thousands of miles and electronic transformations, Ellie made Chuck realize how their lives had changed now. Totally revamped. The choice his father had made decades ago, probably before they were born, had now brought them to a completely new reality, a reality that neither he nor his sister had ever imagined. Even Devon's 'awesome' exclamations sounded like coming from another universe._

_Well, now he was about to get into a mission in an extremely hostile environment. He had no idea what their chances for success were but he was told that the Iranian security services were extremely effective and ruthless. But he would be there with Sarah, relying on each other and that was good enough for him._

He had reached Beckman and Casey.

'General,' he started offering her his hand, 'glad to see you again, face to face, uh, one on one, mano a …'

'Nice to see you again, Herr Bartowski,' Beckman said beaming. 'Stop blabbering. Let's get down to business.'

Now that she was fully briefed and assigned to run this ultra-secret op, together with this Agent 20, of course, her confidence was back after so many days of uncertainty and worries. She was to run the Team Bartowski part of the op. Agent 20 -- Carina, Ziva and the international part of the whole team.

They all entered a small diner there, to have a cup of coffee and wait for Agent 20 to join them.

'Nice to see you again Casey,' Carina flashed him a smile. 'Feeling good, … these days?'

'I'm fine, Carina.' Casey threw an inquisitive glance at her. 'I've been waiting for _real action_ like this for what, two years, now? No offense, Chuck,' he had turned to the former nerd.

'None taken, Casey, feel free to express your true feelings to everybody. I never doubted that you're human after all,' Chuck retorted playfully. 'Well, almost never.'

'Hmm,' Casey grunted, narrowing his eyes at him.

Beckman was watching their exchange carefully.

'Agent Walker,' she started while turning to Sarah, 'those two are bickering that way all the time, right? The bits I managed to catch during our video conferences seem to be just the tip of the iceberg.'

'Not all the time general,' Sarah replied, smiling gently. 'Not all the time. But it's bad.'

'Well,' Beckman sighed, 'the important thing is that the team was successful, on so many occasions, and we hope it'll work out this time as well.'

Carina's telephone buzzed. 'Yeah, ...oh, right, got it … okay, … over.'

'It was Austin. Let's finish our coffees and get back to the plane..." She said.

'Who?' Chuck asked surprised. General Beckman had smirked and Casey was wondering why the hype over a name as typical as Austin.

'Austin Fitz-Hume, or Agent 20, as you knew him until now,' Carina went on. 'He won't be joining us here, he has already boarded the plane. Some misunderstanding, I guess the Andrews people screwed it.'

'_Not a good sign,_' Chuck thought to himself, _'not a good sign at all. Starting such a critical mission with such a childish lack in organization …Sheesh, now I understand why he hides behind this 'agent 20' nickname. Austin Fitz-Hume? It's as ridiculous as an Emmett Milbarge.'_

He threw a quick glance at Sarah, who, noticing his worried face, smiled at him and put her right hand on his shoulder.

'Don't worry, Chuck, everything's gonna be fine.' She said with as much confidence as she was able to produce under the circumstances.

They all strode back to the plane and 10 minutes later the C-17 taxied back again and took position at the end of the longest runway.

A thousand yards away, a highly trained surveillance team monitored the C-17 takeoff through enhanced, military strength binoculars.

Once the large transportation plane disappeared in the clouds high in the sky, the head of the surveillance group pulled out a strangely looking cellphone and type a text message, comprising of one word only: "Airborne."

XXX

**10 hours later, above the Indian Ocean**

Chuck had just opened his eyes after a 3-hour sleep and moaned.

He looked at his watch. _They still had at least about an hour before reaching their final destination._ He smiled at Sarah who was sitting opposite him.

'Did you manage to sleep, agent?' He asked.

'I wasn't sleepy, Chuck ... I was reading something.'

They were talking in German. For many days now, Chuck and the people around him, those who knew the language, were ordered to talk only in German so Chuck could improve it even further.

'Hmm, mission-related?' he inquired.

'Of course, we need to stay focused.' She smiled at him again and then looked at her watch.

_Something bothered Chuck. Did she look a bit nervous? Unusually nervous?_ He frowned but didn't say anything.

Carina, who had sat across the aisle for most of the flight but then disappeared, now came from somewhere and dropped on the seat next to Sarah.

'Well, how did you find my boss, Chuck, our boss, I mean?' She asked, obviously referring to Agent 20.

'Well, he's a great dude,' Chuck allowed generously, 'great dude. I-I think ... we hit it off, actually.' He said nodding.

The guy was a 100%-certified nerd, and Chuck still couldn't believe it how he could end up in the black op business, running action-filled rogue operations like this one.

_They talked for about half hour and their conversation quickly turned to technology and computers. It turned out Agent 20 knew quite a bit about the topic. At the end of their conversation Agent 20 tapped Chuck on the shoulder and said calmly, 'Don't you worry Bartowski-junior, everything's gonna be fine. Our plan is very, very well thought out.'_

'_Bartowski-junior, huh, so, he tells me he knows about my father, … probably a lot_.' Chuck thought to himself.

'And what do you think of my other friend?' Carina went on letting a microscopic trace of a smile on her face.' The one over there,' she pointed at Ziva, who was sitting two rows away of them.

'A very nice girl, very nice.' Chuck said beaming, 'Always cheerful, … smiling, friendly. How could you think, mmm … even for a second, that she could be a Mossad assassin? Never.'

'Was, Chuck, was,' Ziva yelled at him in order to overcome the noise that was coming from the jet-engines. She was cheerfully waving and smiling at him. 'Not anymooooore.'

Chuck frowned. How did she hear him? But at the very next moment he saw general Beckman coming. She and Agent 20 approached Sarah, Carina and Chuck.

'Well, how is the mood, Herr Bartowski,' Beckman smiled at Chuck, and then turned around at everybody. 'Please remember, you all need to speak only German from now on. Your Austrian accent is still fluctuating, Chuck,' she added.

'Yes, General,' Sarah replied on behalf of all. 'Nothing but German, from now on …'

She looked at her watch and it seemed to Chuck that she was a bit nervous, ... again. Has Sarah been a bit different, ever since she got back from Washington? He was playing with the thought ever since.

'How much?' he asked her.

'How much what?' she asked back.

'Time, I mean time till the landing.'

'Oh, about, umm … forty minutes, I guess, right, Carina?' Sarah looked at her inquisitively.

'Let me ask the pilots,' Carina suggested, 'after all they will know, sometimes they change speed, or may need to refuel, so … ' She jumped up and headed to the cockpit, passing by Beckman and Agent 20 who were still standing nearby and talking.

Three minutes later Carina came back with a wide smile on her face and said, 'That's it, people, good news. We have about 15 minutes, actually.'

Chuck wanted to express his satisfaction with the news but two things prevented him from doing that as he was sitting and just watching Carina right in front of him.

_First, he started flashing as this was another half-lie of hers, and second, he somehow had the gut feeling that her words were specifically intended for Sarah._ The following events proved him right.

They were all flying on one of those special DoD transportation planes, furnished and equipped for the top brass. Big, luxurious armchairs, large spaces between them. Ideal for what followed.

Sarah Walker stood up, made few steps toward General Beckman and stopped right in front of her.

'Diane Beckman, on behalf of the US government, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can …' Sarah started reading her Miranda rights while pulling out a paper from her inside pocket.

As shocked as Chuck was, he didn't say anything, just staring at Beckman, waiting for her reaction.

But the poor tiny woman didn't say anything. She just dropped dead on the floor, … or hopefully, just unconscious.

As Chuck found out a minute later, Carina, who was behind her, pierced her with one of those tranq darts.

'Sarah? What's going on here?' a totally astounded Chuck almost shouted.

But Sarah ignored him for the moment. She and Carina turned Beckman on her back and Carina checked her vitals. 'She's fine, thank God!'

Then she opened Beckman's mouth and pointed a small flashlight, checking on her teeth.

'Fifth, down left, … looks suspicious,' Carina said, 'but we'll soon know for sure.

'I'm just gonna sit down here and relax for a sec,' Sarah announced, gasping for air. She still had a terrible lump, stuck in her throat. She couldn't believe she was actually able to say all these words to Beckman so calmly. But she had insisted to be the one, making the arrest.

Ziva joined Carina and Agent 20 to help them put Beckman on a stretcher and took her away to another compartment of the plane.

Chuck jumped up from his chair and plunged himself next to Sarah.

'Sarah, what the hell is going on,' he asked terrified, 'because I'm kinda thunderstruck here … what's with Beckman?'

'She was a foreign spy, Chuck. She'll be charged with espionage and treason, well, hopefully not. The plan is to get her to cooperate. It's of utmost importance.' Sarah said with her eyes still closed. 'Just give me a minute to gather my thoughts, okay?'

'Sure, sure.' Chuck exhaled deeply. '_What the hell was going on here_?'

Sarah put her head between her hands and released a deep breath. Her mind drifted back to her last meeting with Agent 20, there in the underground bunker at Langley.

---

_Surprise, surprise, no international agents with their masks anymore there, she thought then. Instead, Agent 20 had offered her to sit in an armchair while he was still strolling back and forth._

_'Well,' Sarah started, noticing the change, 'what's up … boss?'_

_'Mm-hmm,' Agent 20 cleared his throat. Then he pulled out a remote control out of his pocket and tossed it to Sarah._

_She caught it of course. A glance at it. Typical remote for a TV system._

_'You know how to use it,' Agent 20 started, 'dontcha?'_

_'I thought there was no electronics in this entire area,' a smile slid her face._

_'You thought right. But now there's some. Arrow up please.'_

_Sarah pressed it. A large flat screen slid up right in front of the wall against her._

_'I'm warning you, Agent Walker, you're not gonna like it. But there it is. Press on 'play', please.'_

_And so she did._

_Casey's apartment, his living room popped up first, with the monitors there. The screen was divided into two equal parts, obviously from two different cameras._

_'How did you …' she inquired, raising her brows._

_'Just watch it, Walker, it's not the time for technicalities.'_

_There, on the left side there was John Casey, standing._

_General Beckman had just appeared on the right one._

_'I thought you might call.' Casey started._

"_Major Casey,you understand the situation?' Beckman said. 'We can't have another intersect wandering around Los Angeles getting into trouble.'_

_'General, Chuck may be a novice spy, but the results speak for themselves.' Casey replied leaning over a table. 'Surely we can find another exit strategy.'_

_Then Sarah saw Beckman leaning forward to the camera, so her face took about a third of the entire monitor. The general looked sternly at it and snapped at Casey:_

_'You have your orders, major. Tomorrow night, eliminate Chuck Bartowski.'_

_'Pause, agent Walker, press pause, please.' Agent 20 insisted at this point._

_Sarah remembered this moment so well. She wished she had eaten something that day so she could have an excuse, go to the bathroom and throw up. Everything that was inside her. But she couldn't reveal any weakness, lack of character. _

_'I can't believe that.' She uttered quietly._

_'You heard it right, Sarah!' Agent 20 insisted. 'Eliminate Chuck Bartowski! _

_Sarah was staring at him, still in disbelief. _

_'Oh, you think we've doctored it?' Agent 20 went on, waving his hands. 'Wanna take a copy of this so you arrange for your independent expertise? The master tape, maybe? I can arrange that for ya.**'**_

_She tried to swallow. But there was a lump, a large lump there stuck in her throat._

_'When did this happen?' she asked finally, gritting her teeth._

_'Why don't you give it a try, huh?' He challenged her.'You were supposed to protect the asset after all.'  
_

_She was thinking. "... another intersect" Beckman had said. It must have been when they were going after the Cipher, building up the new intersect room. She shared her suspicions with Agent 20._

_'Good thinking, Walker. Sandra told me you're an excellent agent.'_

_'Sandra?' Sarah furrowed. Carina had told her once that Sandra was her real name but she just hadn't bought it._

_'Oh, that would be Carina.' _Agent 20 added, waving his hand._ 'Her real name is Sandra, I thought you knew that, … sorry. She works for me by the way.'_

_'Oh, I thought, …. and you are working for …?'_

_'We'll get to that … soon, let's finish with our video escapade first, shall we?'_

_'So, where were we? Beckman orders John Casey to kill Chuck, right?' _Agent 20 reminded.

_'Right,' Sarah hissed. She had now her blood boiling._

_'Then what happens?' Agent 20 continued theatrically waving his hands. 'Ah, yes, somebody tricks Casey and steals the cipher from him, on behalf of one Mr. Colt, remember him?'_

_'Yeah, that's right,' she had remembered._

_'Did you ever ask yourself how this Colt intercepted, and so quickly at that, Casey-Beckman's communications? So his man had the time to pick up the cipher from Casey, knowing the code phrase?' _

_Sarah tried to clear her throat to say something, but she simply couldn't._

_'Did you ever ask yourself who this Mr. Colt worked for?'_

_'Didn't he say anything, during interrogation?' Sarah muttered somehow._

_'No, my new boss doesn't torture, as you know, so …' Agent 20 raised his shoulders here._

_'Your new boss?'_

_'My agency works under the president and only under him. He's the only one I'm responsible to. And the law, of course. We'll get to that later.'_

_'Oh, I see.' Sarah sighed deeply._

_'So, Colt gets the cipher, but then, interestingly, he drops Chuck off a high building even though Chuck has 'the cipher' in his hand. Seems like Colt also has been ordered to kill Chuck, no matter what. Somebody, who knew Chuck's importance as the intersect must have ordered him to do that, don't you think? … You follow me?' _

_'Why would Beckman want to kill Chuck? I don't understand?' Sarah asked shaking her head. 'I'm gonna kill this b ….' she had thought to herself._

_'Give it a try Walker. Just guess.' Agent 20 had interrupted her thought.  
_

_'Working for an hostile government?'_

_'Of course, what else. But let's see the rest of it first. Here is what happens after you arrest Colt and get back the cipher. Well, this time it is the pseudo-cipher, you remember what happened with this 'cipher', right? Press on 'play' again, please.'_

_Sarah could again see the screen divided into two parts. On the left, Casey was trimming his ridiculous bonsai tree._

_'Major Casey.' Beckman interrupted, clearing her throat. 'Hope I'm not interrupting.' _

_'The new intersect ready?' Casey inquired in his typical, less than grammatical way._

_'We're minutes away.' Beckman said._

_'Which means...' Casey started asking._

_'... your order remains the same.' Beckman was categorical again. 'Chuck Bartowski is to be eliminated.'_

_'Uhhh', Casey sighed really deep._

"_What was that, Casey?' Beckman inquired, irritated._

_'Nothing, general.' Casey hesitated so Beckman reached for her button to disconnect._

_'It's just...' Casey gathered some courage here. 'Chuck's served his country with honor. Maybe he even has potential as an analyst for the organization.'_

"_I unders...' Beckman had allowed. _

_But then, … then, her CIA boss, her mentor, Graham interjected. 'Let me, general!'_

_Sarah couldn't believe that Graham was part of this … crime, because it was a crime after all. A conspiracy to commit murder._

_'Major Casey, can you extract these secrets from Mr. Bartowski's head?' Graham went on. 'Can you guarantee him safety from kidnapping, from torture?' _

_'No.' Casey was forced to admit._

_'Then it's clear.' Graham had the nerve to go on. "Chuck Bartowski has served his country with honor. Now he'll die with honor to protect it.'_

_'How noble, ... and considerate!' Sarah yelled to herself. 'Saving Chuck from kidnapping and torturing, … by killing him.'_

_She had jumped up from the armchair. 'I think I've seen and heard enough!' She almost shouted angrily._

_'Sit down, Agent Walker!' Agent 20 barked at her. _

_'We're not finished yet.' He glared at her. 'Nowhere near, actually. Everybody is under investigation here, not just Beckman and Graham. Casey, you, everybody from the NSA and CIA support.' _

_'Obviously, you've been cleared,' he then said icily, 'otherwise, I wouldn't be having this conversation with you. But you're not off the hook, … yet.'_

_She had plopped back into the chair, of course. _

_'Press again 'play', please!' he ordered her._

_Sarah pressed the button again and focused on the screen._

_The picture was again divided in two. Right side – Chuck's kitchen. Left side – the Morgan door._

_'Oh, God, they had installed cameras everywhere,' she thought._

_Chuck was now there on the right side of the monitor, preparing some food in the kitchen._

_On the left side of the screen, John Casey, sneaking in through the Morgan door, pulling his gun out. A gun with a silencer. Approaching Chuck in the kitchen ... training the gun at Chuck._

_And then, Sarah felt like her heart shattered into hundreds of pieces. Chuck had started reciting his words, the words he planned to use, asking her to go with him on a trip to Europe. She knew nothing about this._

_'So, Sarah, what do you,' he had started hesitantly, looking for words.' … what do you think of, um, what do you think of Europe? You, me, a couple of... eurorail passes? Just seeing the world. Seeing, seeing the world.' He obviously wondered if that would sound OK._

_And while Chuck was doing that, Casey was wondering when to shoot, training his gun again at him._

"_Was he really going to shoot Chuck,' Sarah wondered with her heart pounding. Even though she knew that Chuck was well and alive, this was so nerve-racking to watch. She could sense the shivers trickling down her spine. 'How could they!'_

_And then the doorbell. Chuck rushed to open and Casey backed down for a second. And then she, Sarah, appeared at the front door._

_'Hey, Sarah.' Chuck greeted her. _

_Yeah she remembered it so well. She was so angry that the cipher was destroyed, her boss, everything was gone. And now, … now it seemed it saved his life. How stupid and ignorant she was!_

_'Chuck,' she saw herself, saying._

_'What is it?' Chuck asked anxiously._

_'We have to call off the date. The intersect was destroyed.' _

_She had felt so weird watching herself. Ironically, her coming right in time saved his life. She shook her head here. She still couldn't believe it. But it was a fact._

_'What? But the cipher...' Chuck uttered angrily, still in disbelief._

_'It was a trojan horse, a sabotage device.' She explained. 'The moment it came online, it exploded.'_

_'But that means...' Chuck muttered._

"_You're still the only intersect. I'm sorry."_

_The video ended with Casey backing off and disappearing through the Morgan door. _

_Sarah realized that there were tears rolling down off her eyes._

_'Is that all,' she asked while wiping them._

_'No, we still have some issues to discuss. I'm sorry, Agent Walker, but I warned you that you wouldn't like this. However, we're entering the next phase of our op and you needed to see all this.' _Agent 20 said. "May I have my remote back, now?'

---

Sarah rose up a bit and opened her eyes, now filled again with tears. She turned to Chuck.

'Sarah, what's going on? Why are you crying?'

'At the back of the plane, on the left, there is a door, number 101, go there, Chuck. Casey is waiting for you there.'

'Why, what's going on? I'm totally freaking out, you know.'

'He has something to tell you. Mano a mano, … just go.'

'Uh, ok, are you sure, … ok, ok, I'm going.'

'And, Chuck,' Sarah said, this time firmly, '… everything you could think of, punishing lieutenant Casey even further, don't hesitate.'

'Lieutenant, … lieutenant Casey?' Chuck exclaimed in disbelief.

'That's right Bartowski,' Agent 20 said approaching him. He obviously had heard the last part. 'And that's actually an order. He needs a lot of punishment.' He winked at him. 'Seriously, … punish him. Just make good use of your creativity in the process.'

'Mmm, okay, … boss, you're my new boss, right?' Chuck asked furrowing.

'For the time being. We're actually three co-directors of this agency. The second one is dealing with administrative affairs only, and the third one,' he smiled, 'believe me, you wouldn't be so ...um enthused to serve under him.'

'Whu-who might that be?'

'You'll find out soon, … upon landing.'

'Chuck looked at his watch. Which means any minute.'

'No, we still have about 3 hours to fly.' Agent 20 pointed out.

'What, … but Carina …' Chuck frowned again. _Everything turned out NOT to be what it looked like._

'"15 minutes" was the code word for arresting, … the traitor. Go. Room 101. Punish him.' Agent 20 repeated firmly.

'How original!' Chuck shook his head. 'And who came up with the idea to call it "Room 101"?'

'Carina!' Sarah, Agent 20 and the approaching Ziva yelled simultaneously. 'Who else?'

'Yeah, … right.' he clamped his lips. 'Who else, indeed?'

'Make it unbearable, Chuck,' Ziva winked at him.

'But why, why?' Chuck wondered loud.

'He himself will tell you, Chuck,' Sarah said. 'It's part of his punishment.'

'Mmm, … okay, … there I go … room 101.' Chuck said totally perplexed and headed to lieutenant Casey's Room 101.

Once he entered the room, he saw there John Casey, with a remote control in his right hand, in front of a large plasma screen.

Casey was ordered to watch, together with Chuck, the same video clips Agent 20 and Sarah had gone through together. The lieutenant was ordered to comment, explain what he was thinking, feeling, was he indeed going to shoot Chuck. Open up a bit. That was part of his punishment.

Chuck, as we just learned, was ordered to punish him for not reporting the illegal order to the proper authorities.

Outside, Sarah, Carina, Ziva and Agent 20 were sitting in the armchairs and wondering what was going on in there.

'And where on earth, did you get that crazy idea, Carina?' Agent 20 let finally out. 'I can't believe the president agreed with that sort of unorthodox punishment for Casey.' he shook his head.

'You know me, boss, I've always been a little … mm, unorthodox-ish.' She smiled at him. 'And your boss. Hmm, as little as I agree politically with him, he has an excellent sense of humor. Those two will have some fun in there, in room 101.'

'For the record,' Sarah chimed in, 'as little as I agree with your methods, Carina, I second to that, … I mean the punishment. After all, it was me who had to listen to these two pinheads bickering, for what, over two years?'

'Yeah, yeah, it's perfect.' Agent 20 blurted out without realizing he was saying it loud. 'Casey's gonna mellow a bit and finally join the human race. And Chuck, once he decided to join the spy world, will finally man up a bit.' Then, realizing that he was saying all this loud, Agent 20 turned to Sarah.

'No offense, Walker.'

'None taken.' Sarah tried to sound as firm as she possibly could. 'And besides, I doubt this will change Chuck a bit.' She added proudly. 'Even this experience.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Carina sighed sadly. 'Once Chuck,' she started as didactically as she was able to, ' always a Chuck.'

'Yeah, yeah,' they were nodding and murmuring affirmatively at each other, 'true, ... true.'

Xxx


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Was Casey gonna carry out Beckman's order and kill Chuck in 2x01? Or Maybe not? Let's see what Casey himself has to say to Chuck.**

**Again, NickyR was so gracious to help me with thee editing. Of course, after that that I still make changes, so … the bad stuff is still mine.**

**-**

**Chapter XIV**

**Why I love Ronald Reagan So Much**

-

Chuck closed the door behind and nodded at Casey.

'Hello, Casey, I-I was just told to …,' he hesitated.

'Yeah, Chuck, I know,' Casey said softly.

_It was a different Casey, Chuck could see that. Very different. For the first time ever, it occurred to Chuck, Casey's shoulders looked somewhat drooping. Resigned. It was, obviously, somehow connected to what had just happened to Beckman._

'You can sit over there in the armchair,' Casey pointed at one in front of the small desk. He was standing several feet away from him, in front of a large plasma screen, and was holding a remote control.

'I screwed the pooch, Chuck,' Casey started with his voice slightly trembling, ' ... big time ... a year ago. And …. and it concerns you.'

'Oh, that's why they all told me to …' Chuck continued hesitantly.

'Hmm ... punish me?' Casey finished Chuck's sentence firmly, nodding. 'Yeah, essentially it is up to you to decide. But first you need to see some video material,' Casey stepped toward Chuck and offered him the remote. 'Just press _play_ and watch carefully, Bartowski.'

Chuck could feel it was something big. To _change somebody like Casey …in such a way ..._

He pressed a button and concentrated on the screen.

_It was Casey's apartment with the screen divided into two equal parts, obviously from two different camera angles, both showing a different view of his living room._

_There, on the left side of the screen, was Casey, standing, and then general Beckman appeared on the right one._

_'I thought you might call.' Casey started._

"_Major Casey, you understand the situation?' Beckman said. 'We can't have another intersect wandering around Los Angeles getting into trouble.'_

_'General, Chuck may be a novice spy, but the results speak for themselves.' Casey replied leaning over a table. 'Surely we can find another exit strategy.'_

_But then Beckman leaned forward to the camera, so her face took almost a third of the entire monitor. The general looked sternly at it and snapped at Casey:_

_'You have your orders, major. Tomorrow night, eliminate Chuck Bartowski!'_

What!' Chuck had jumped up from his chair. 'Whu-why would Beckman do that?' Chuck was shaking with outrage.

'Press 'pause', Chuck,' Casey said calmly. 'We don't know for sure, her official explanation to me was that they were re-building the computerized Intersect again and … and you heard it actually.'

'But-but it doesn't make any sense!' Chuck protested. 'If they could live with me and protect me before that …?'

'You're right, Chuck, it simply doesn't make sense.' Casey nodded at him. 'We, or another team of agents could continue to protect and make use of you and your abilities or … well, now that Beckman is arrested, they hope she'll spill it. I mean Agent 20's agency. Their guess is that she, being a foreign spy, was ordered to arrange disabling or eliminating the Intersect. As you know, at the same time the computerized intersect was sabotaged again by somebody, so the US government wouldn't have had any intersect. … if you were … were to be eliminated.'

'Oh, … oh,' Chuck was thinking, and then it dawned on him. _The question. The mother of all questions. The one they had sent him here for._

'Casey,' he started muttering, '... and you, were you, … were you gonna kill me?'

Now Casey was staring down the floor, seemed like he couldn't look at Chuck.

'Press _play_ again Chuck. You have to see it all, first.' He said while staring at the floor.

Chuck did exactly that and saw again Beckman, this time together with Graham, ordering Casey to kill the Intersect again. And Casey was, again, hesitantly trying to save him by suggesting different solution.

Casey had taken the remote from Chuck and stopped the video after Graham reordered that Chuck simply had to be killed.

'So, Graham is part of this, uh … was?' Chuck frowned. 'Then how ...'

'We don't know why and to what extent, Chuck, but Fitz-Hume, ... and … and Carina, and the rest of his team are obviously unraveling it, peace by peace, especially now. My job is to tell you about my part however, … the rest, … well, ... you'll be told the rest by others.'

'What I'm gonna show you now, Chuck,' Casey went on with his voice trembling again, 'might be a bit difficult to watch and it is where I particularly screwed up. Watch, then we're gonna talk.'

Chuck sighed and focused again on the screen.

_The picture was again divided in two. Right side – Chuck's kitchen. Left side – the Morgan door._

_There was Chuck now on the right side of the monitor, preparing some food right after Ellie and Devon left._

Yeah he remembered it, that evening he had a date with Sarah. He was wondering how to offer her this trip to Europe. They were rebuilding the Intersect there in Washington so he was feeling free like a bird. Finally free!

Well, it looked like he was more like dead as a dodo.

_On the left side of the screen, John Casey came in, actually Chuck saw him sneaking in through the Morgan door, pulling his gun out. A gun with a silencer. Approaching Chuck in the kitchen. Training the gun at Chuck. Staying that way for a couple of seconds. Was he hesitating?_

_And then Sarah rang at the front door._

Here, Casey stopped the video.

'So, ... Casey!' Chuck said deeply shaken. 'Thank you for providing me with nightmare material, … for the rest of my life! You were gonna kill me, after all, ... orders, huh? You saved my life so many times, that you thought it was time to balance it somehow.' He tried to joke it out.

_Now he remembered what had happened next. Sarah was about to pop up and tell him that the intersect had been destroyed, sabotaged._

_But there was Casey there, aiming his gun at him. After all, he could have pulled the trigger before Sarah rang! Why was he wasting seconds however? There were about 6 or 7 seconds there, with Casey just aiming at him._

'So, you could have killed me, right? What were you waiting for, Casey?' Chuck asked again.

'Actually, I wouldn't have killed you, Chuck, … couldn't have.' Casey's voice sounded so awkward now. 'Even if the Intersect hadn't been destroyed and agent Walker hadn't arrived with the news.'

'Oh, I'm not so sure now, John, ... how so?' Chuck frowned. It was probably for the first time he called him John. He was making it personal now.

'_Here comes my humiliation now,'_ Casey thought to himself.

'I was hesitating all these seconds, Chuck, … before agent Walker arrived, because … uh, my vision was-was blurred. Carina had put something in my drink, so I couldn't focus, … uh, … and all magazines, of all my guns, had been replaced with blanks not real munitions. Soo …'

'Oh, you couldn't have killed me, because of Carina's actions, because their team was onto us, onto you, actually, ... I see now.' Chuck sighed deeply.

'We have been, our team, under their constant surveillance, … yeah.' Casey muttered.

'Since when?' Chuck asked gloomily.

'Since Carina popped up with this ridiculous Afghani diamond op, remember? She had smelled a rat and … they were sniffing around … that's their job, … look for penetrations, corruption within the intelligence and law enforcement ...'

'Right.' Chuck pursed his lips.

'And you, you and Sarah, never suspected a thing,' Chuck realized loud.

'Nope.'

'Geez!' Chuck was thinking. 'Well, the question remains, Casey! Would you, or would you not …? '

Casey was silent. 'Mm-hmm, he cleared his throat. 'Truth is, Chuck, we'll never know …'

'What? You must be aware what was going on in your head!'

'I was drugged, Chuck, what I remember was that I was thinking about Beckman's and Graham's words, their order and that I-I … hated it. Truth is Chuck, I can't be sure. I felt so split... .'

'Oh, …' Chuck somehow remained unconvinced.

'I'm not trying to excuse myself or anything, my career is essentially over, Bartowski. But I was interrogated, polygraphed, judged by professional polygraphers and finally by a team of renowned government psychologists.'

'And …?' Chuck inquired.

'And they concluded I was truthful and chances were fifty-fifty that I may have carried out the order.'

'Meaning killing me.'

'Yeah, Chuck, that's right, killing you.' Casey pursed his lips.

'So, … you had um … kinda emotional reservations about carrying out the order …, right?'

' I guess … '

'So... what happens to you now?'

'I've been cleared of collusion, being part of Beckman's network, I mean, … and of course they told me that at least I should be dishonorably discharged for not reporting the illegal order on … on multiple occasions. But then …'

'Then ?'

'Agent Walker and Carina vouched for me … so … eventually I'm gonna be back, with the team. But it depends on … you, Chuck.'

Chuck felt his mobile phone buzzing. 'What the hell? How could somebody reach him here, aboard this plane?'

He pulled it out and checked. Text messages. From all of them. Sarah, Carina, Agent 20, even Ziva had suggestions how Chuck should punish Lieutenant Casey. Chuck checked all of them and then put the phone back into his pocket.

'What is it, Chuck?' Casey asked nervously.

Chuck was just about to say something when his phone buzzed again. Another message. He sighed but decided to check it out as well.

That was a long one. He was reading it for a couple of minutes when Casey finally asked again. 'What is it, Chuck?'

'Nothing important, Casey, a long message that I need to read more carefully.'

'So, … is that all?' Chuck wondered.

'As far as I'm concerned, yes.' Casey answered with obvious anxiety in his voice. 'That's what I was ordered to tell you. Hm-huh, … and of course, I owed you this explanation, personally, … man to man.'

'Well, … I'm gonna talk to the other members of the team first,' Chuck said thinking. 'And then see … see what happens next.'

'Understood,' Casey answered in a typical military fashion. 'I'm not going anywhere, … for the time being.'

'Okay, I'm going out now, joining the rest, … are you coming?' Chuck asked.

'A little later, Chuck.'

When Chuck went back to join the rest, only Sarah and Carina were still there waiting for him.

'So, how did it go?' Sarah asked raising her brows.

'I can't believe it, … killing me?' Chuck shook his head and then remembered about Carina's role.

'I guess I have to thank you, Carina, it seems I owe you, uh … everything,' he started.

'Oh, please, Chuck,' Carina smiled at him, 'Casey himself saved your life a couple of times, right? And so did Sarah. And you saved theirs as well. It's how this business is, Chuck. Maybe tomorrow, it'll be me who'll need and hopefully get your help.' Carina threw a really inquisitive glance at Chuck.

'Somehow I doubt that's ever gonna happen.' Chuck said smirking. 'You know what this devil suggested as Casey's punishment, Sarah?'

'No, but you can tell me,' Sarah asked, flashing him a gentle smile. 'Before curiosity finishes me off.'

'Once every two days Casey comes up with an essay, or a poem, opening up, you know … emotionally. Like an essay or even an ode about Ronald Reagan, an essay like 'Why do I love Ronald Reagan?', or a poem about Ilsa Trinchina, about his first Crown Vic and why he would never forget her.'

'And-and if I don't buy it as a genuine, you know, 100% genuine emotional outpouring,' Chuck smirked, 'he rewrites it, again and again.'

Sarah laughed out loud. 'That's evil, … very evil,' she shook her head, 'but so necessary for Casey to finally evolve into a fully functional human being.'

'Get ready people,' Agent 20 had popped out of somewhere. 'We'll be landing in about 20 minutes. Get your baggage ready, everything.' He was shouting at them now.

Sarah was checking her gear, handbags, thinking of what was ahead. This time there was a really wide, wide smile taking over her face. What lied ahead was relaxing there on the beach and dealing with Beckman, but chances were she would cooperate, considering what or rather who was expecting her there.

But her mind was taking her back, again and again, to her conversation with Agent 20.

_'So, what now,' Sarah had asked Agent 20 after they finished with the damned video clips. 'How do we proceed with this Iranian operation? Operation Natanz. Oh, my God!' Sarah had exclaimed. 'Beckman must have spilled … betrayed ...'_

_Agent 20 had burst into laughter. _

_'There is no such operation, Agent Walker. It was just bait for Beckman and her network of moles to bite on. Prompt her into action. We needed hard, iron-clad evidence. We videotaped her dropping a message and then her handler picking it. A mole as high up in the hierarchy as Beckman was usually doesn't do that. He or she would function as agent of influence, and that's what Beckman was doing, mainly. Also sniffing for weaknesses in people ... throughout the intelligence agencies so she could recommend them to her handlers as potential recruits.' Agent 20 made a short pause here._

_'But destroying Iran's numerous nuclear facilities,' he then went on, 'is too big, too juicy, so Beckman wanted to deliver the info herself. And of course, we were watching closely everybody she had contact with.'_

_'Including me and Casey, of course,' Sarah thought to herself._

_'Everybody' Agent 20 enunciated, as if reading her mind again. 'Not that somebody seriously suspected you, Walker, … but rules are rules. Everybody had to be investigated. The phone Carina had given you, had GPS and microphone, … we had info on every single move of yours, here in DC. Now that we are letting you back to LA, Casey will be coming here. '_

_Sarah was thinking. 'So, no black op inside Iran, then.' She let a sigh out._

_'Nope.' Agent 20 nodded, smirking._

_'So,' Sarah had continued, 'we let the Iranians develop their nuclear arsenal after all?'_

_'I don't think so.' Agent 20 shook his head. 'But I'm a professional spy, whose job is to catch spies, not a politician.' He shrugged indifferently. 'Anyway, why do you think we pay this crazy, crazy money for all the stealth aircraft? A B-2 bomber costs over two billion per bird. An F-22 costs 140 million without development cost. With development it's about 340 million. These are astronomical expenses for a single plane. It's precisely because they would do the job cleanly. Without people risking their lives, with all the political and diplomatic repercussions.'_

_Agent 20 could see Sarah's face brightening a bit. She was thinking of something else of course. That Chuck wouldn't have to go there, inside Iran, no danger for him or the rest of the team._

'_But if we bomb their sites' Sarah had wondered loud, 'the Iranians would block the Hormuz strait, and the oil price will jump up to $300 or more.'_

'_I don't think so.' Agent 20 said again. ' That's the conventional wisdom but $300 per barrel would push economic giants such as the US and Europe away from oil, decisively and irreversibly. Do you know what happened last summer when oil reached 150? .... Major automakers such as GM closed their SUV and truck plants.' Agent 20 allowed another pause before continuing._

_'If oil prices go up to unbearable levels there will be political will to drill, move to alternative technologies, build nuclear plants, etc. The US and Europe may decide to build more nuclear plants, move to electric cars, shift to energy-efficient homes. They already have over 15,000 specially constructed houses over there in Germany that are heated with 20 times less energy than a normal one. And they cost only 5% more than the usual.'_

'_In other words,' her new boss went on, 'the West will shift to real energy independence and big oil producers as Iran and their current main benefactor, Russia would be the real losers. They have to be crazy to allow such a hike. Now, of course our shift will be painful, but …we won't have any choice and in the final analysis it's them who will lose big time.'_

_'Perhaps,' Sarah had almost agreed. 'I wonder then why we wouldn't make such a shift to energy independence anyway.' she wondered loudly._

_'Because we here, and the Europeans over there, have let our asses grow so fat, so spoiled and so inert, that only external force like super-high prices can make us get cracking.'_

'_So, Iran is not our problem, then, glad to hear that.' Sarah allowed a mild smile slid up her face._

_But Agent 20 wasn't going to let her off the hook so easily._

_'No, but Walker, we still have a lot ahead of us. We need to win Beckman over, feed her handlers with false info, thus, since they are helping the Iranians, feed Tehran with our disinformation.' _

_'Right, of course,' Sarah agreed._

_'But first,' Agent 20 suddenly acquired an icy look, 'did you ever ask yourself why Beckman kept the Intersect strictly in LA?'_

_'You mean, why she hadn't used him in critical places, centers of international espionage, like New York, Washington DC, Vienna, Geneva …'_

_'Exactly … well, you obviously did ...'_

_'Yeah, but Chuck is not a trained agent,' Sarah started hastily, 'and he was willing to remove it from his head, so ...' _

_'That's right, but Beckman doesn't care about Chuck, never did, don't you think? You should've asked yourself …why is she using him so ineffectively.'_

_'Yeah, that's right,' Sarah interrupted him, still pondering. "And she could have sent him on short, 3-month assignments to places like Vienna or Geneva under diplomatic immunity. So he could hang out at receptions, international conferences, weapons expos, … he wouldn't have been more exposed than here in LA, especially under diplomatic immunity in places like Geneva or Vienna. …so Beckman was intentionally using him in the most ineffective possible way.' Sarah shook her head._

_'Yeah, and once his feelings for you had become so obvious, she should have encouraged you to go for it, send you both to New York, the UN is riddled with foreign spies. Instead, she forbids you from developing this relationship, keeping him depressed, feeling like a loser, there in the Buy More store. It's ridiculous.' _

_'This is not how you carry out a competent intelligence operation.' Agent 20 went on, obviously heating up. 'It's more like a Waziristani henhouse, correction, even the Talibans are pretty competent these days. Attaching only two people to protect the entire government intelligence database? How ridiculous is that? The moment somebody learns he had the intersect in his head, you two could have been easily overpowered. Which happened a couple of times anyway.' He was glaring at her now._

_'Did you ever ask yourself how the cipher, the core of the entire US intelligence database ended up in the hands of a former KGB operative, Sasha Banacheck? How on earth this could have happened?'_

_Sarah was thinking, and this time, Agent 20 could see it clearly, the relief on her face had been replaced by sadness._

_'Well, …' Sarah started firmly cocking her head, 'if you're trying to imply that I failed as an agent, I agree. I can present my resignation to you or whoever ... immediately.' she sighed._

_'Oh, no need to do that, Walker. We know that you're an excellent agent. I just needed to remind you that you got carried away this time. We're finishing this operation, with you as a key element. And then, we expect Mr. Bartwoski to let us know whether he is interested in retaining the Intersect and continuing to be a US government asset.'_

_..._

Their plane had just landed. Stepping down the ladder, Chuck was following Sarah. Three hundred feet away, there stood a lonely male figure now waving in their direction.

Chuck narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on it. Was he holding a glass in his left hand?

'Sarah …,' Chuck started, 'am I having hallucinations, or is this …'

'You got it right, Chuck,' Carina said behind him. 'Roan Montgomery, himself. Nervously awaiting his ultimate assignment.'

_'Hence the alcohol.' _She smirked.

XXX


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **Sorry for the long hiatus. I just got positively distracted by … real life. It's a really pathetic explanation ... but truthful nonetheless.

Something really amazing happened to this story that I find worth mentioning. In Chapter 12 there was a scene describing how Carina dealt with Vinnie, the mafia enforcer who organized the murder of her family. What she did was extremely barbaric, cruel and shocking. **The interesting part is that as a direct result of this scene I lost about 65-70% of my readers for the next Chapter 13. Wow. That's how many were turned off, repulsed by the scene. Wow.**

But then, the next chapter 14 was visited by the previous, _normal_ for this story number of readers. So you couldn't resist it, huh? :)

Very special thanks to my editor extraordinaire, **NickyR,** for her advice and editing, which I find extremely helpful. Since I still make changes after her work, the bad stuff is positively mine.

**Disclaimer:** Ziva David, the Israeli damsel/Mossad assassin, is owned by the CBS folks.

-

**Chapter XV**

**Eh, Women, Women, You Angry Women!**

-

**Next Day, **_**US Navy Support Facility**_** at Diego Garcia, 10:15am**

Chuck, Sarah, Carina, and their new buddy, Ziva David, were sitting in front of a large plasma screen showing the interior of an interrogation cell. It was the classic set up, a large rectangular table with two chairs at opposite sides. Three more, smaller screens, were showing the same cell but from multiple angles.

'I thought we would be behind one of those large, one-directional glass-mirror things,' Chuck wondered loudly.

'Several HD-cameras from different angles are much better,' Ziva pointed out casually, 'you can eventually catch a grimace, or a wince or something that we could have missed otherwise.

'I see.' Chuck murmured.

'Here she is,' Sarah said raising her voice.

A door had just opened and Diane Beckman, still in her military uniform, entered the room and sat on one of the chairs. A young marine had escorted her in, quickly turned around and left.

For the next 15 minutes nothing happened. Beckman was looking around nervously, struggling to remain calm, trying not to betray anything on her face.

But it was impossible. The discomfort in her mouth alone made her feel so surreal. Everything was weird, starting with the missing tooth in her mouth. _The tooth! The one with the poison, that she had been determined to activate … just __in case…_

The last thing she remembered was Sarah Walker popping up in front of her and reading the Miranda rights. To her, General Diane Beckman. _On behave of the US government!_

Her worst fears had materialized.

Once she had been informed about this black op she fell into this, terribly insecure mode, wondering, worrying, unable to sleep at night. _Why was she being__ ostracized?_

Even though it was a black op, it was she, who had been running team Bartowski! It was such a relief when the White House finally let her know she was back into the game.

Well, it was a lie, of course. They obviously knew, arresting a full blown general, who was the DNI, for heaven's sake! They must have more than enough to convict her, she thought horrified! Her life was most probably over...

'Now what,' Chuck asked, gazing at Beckman on the screen, 'what's the plan? What would the US government want from her now?'

'We have to get her start cooperating first of all, ... so we can feed her handlers with some _information_,' Carina said.

'What if she refuses to accept?' Chuck asked. 'What if she accepts our offer but secretly warns her handlers about being under our control?'

'Here is where you come into play, Chuck,' Sarah chimed in smiling gently. 'Your new ability to detect half-lies will make sure she is not misleading us.'

'And Ziva, I mean agent David,' Carina added, 'is known throughout the entire western intelligence community, for her gift.'

'Gift, what gift,' Chuck murmured. 'What gift could a Mossad assassin have except …'

'She tends to guess when somebody is telling the truth … or lying respectively, 'Carina said. 'Female intuition at its best, at least in all these cases so far her judgments have always proved to be right on the money …'

'So far,' Ziva added, shrugging. 'Tomorrow I may get it wrong …'

'Of course, and then, we have voice analyzing software and some other, major, major weapons against Beckman,' Sarah added. 'Like this one.' She rolled her eyes toward the screen.

Chuck realized that Roan Montgomery had just entered the room.

Beckman's eyes were about to pop out, this was the last person she expected to see.

'Roan?!' She exclaimed, 'Uh … what-what are you doing here?' Her voice was clearly trembling.

_'Hmm,'_ Carina thought to herself, staring at Beckman on the screen. _"She still has feelings for him. This is __going to be so easy!' _Not that she minded that. The sooner this was over, the better; she would finally have the time to think about her next set of moves.

'Hello, Diane.' Roan said sadly, letting a sigh out. 'Hm-huh, … I'm here to uh ... have a talk ... with you.'

'Oh, … oh.' she grimaced. 'Where am I, … why have I been arrested?'

Roan Montgomery sat across the table and gave her an inquisitive look.

'Diego Garcia, of course. You know, it's a British territory. The government offers you this opportunity … for an informal conversation, I mean, before the law starts kicking again when we get back on American soil. You know the drill …, dear.' He made a pause here.

'Diane, is there, hmm … anything that you want to ... share with me?' he asked gently, raising his brows at her.

She pondered for a couple of seconds but then shook her head.

'My life is over, Roan. I have no desire to talk … about anything.' She sighed. 'I-I don't think I have even a desire to live ... anymore …' She shook her head again.

'It's not that simple, Diane.' Roan leaned toward her. 'They have you on tape, passing this message, inserting it into a piece of bread, in the leftovers of your lunch, … and then the waitress just happening to pick it up. It's all documented. They know who this waitress actually is. She is a covert operative, working for …'

'I know! I know who she is...' Diane exclaimed angrily. 'I know ...'

"And then, they have you on tape ordering Casey to kill Chuck. They have more than enough to convince any jury … and they're going to go for the death penalty. You know how serious treason is these days... ever after the Ames's case.' He paused again, letting her process his words.

'Diane, you're facing torturous legal procedures, about 10 to 15 years in jail ahead of you ... at least. Most probably, it'll be death penalty with all the legalities, rejected appeals … it'll be years in confinement, disgrace … do you really want that?' He stopped again.

Montgomery took out a touch pad device, started a video clip, and then placed it on the table in front of Beckman. It was, of course, one of the video clips where Beckman was ordering Casey to kill Chuck.

'Imagine how a jury of a military court would react when they see that.' Roan said sadly.

Beckman was staring down the table in front of her; tears started rolling down her cheeks.

'Oh, Roan,' she started sobbing. 'What choice do I have …?'

'Cooperate.' Montgomery chose to quickly interrupt her. 'Both with the damage assessment back to the point when … you-you know ...stopped being one of us ...'

'Yeah,' she nodded.

'And most importantly,' Montgomery went on with the same friendly tone, 'they need you to stay as the DNI, pro-forma, of course. So that we can feed some disinformation to … you know who. The deputy director will be the actual head. Thus, once your services will be no longer needed, you'll be allowed to retire and go off grid ... But the debriefing will last for a very long time, of course, as you well know. Down to the very first operation you … umm, have betrayed.'

'But first,' he went on shortly, 'the disinformation op … we have to do that in the next month or two.' Roan made another pause here.

Beckman was silent.

'Well,' Roan went on. 'What is it going to be, Diane?'

Beckman was still unable to say a word. She looked totally distracted, not listening to him, at all.

'Diane,' Montgomery had raised his voice.

'Huh?' She winced and then tried to focus on him.

'What's your answer?' he asked again. 'But before you let us know, you need to realize … mm, this is an incredible offer. You get it only because your cooperation could be enormously helpful at the moment. The government can figure out the damage you caused back over the years. It's only because you can be very valuable now ...'

'I know, Roan, sorry … I was thinking back, how it happened, how I got myself involved into this … mess.' She stopped here, thinking. She had stopped crying and her makeup was a mess as well but she didn't seem to care at all.

'Of course, I agree,' she said quietly. 'I have no choice, obviously, but … Roan; I didn't want it to be that way in the first place …'

'Good,' Roan said, sighing out. 'After, mmm … after we finish with this session now, a lawyer from the DOJ will talk to you in detail about the exact conditions of your immunity deal. But first you have to tell me, why. Why did you turn against us … against your own country, Diane?'

Now she raised her head and gazed at him. 'Their guess is right, Roan …the fact that they picked you, I mean … it was because of you …' Beckman swallowed hard, her eyes were swimming in tears again. She didn't even try to wipe them off. "My life was such a mess, Roan… such a mess,' she repeated angrily. ''I mean after you left ...'

"Yeah, that's what they told me,' Roan nodded at her grimacing, 'and … and now I can see that …they were right … that it's, it was me.'

"We were so young and so … happy together … remember … Roan?' Beckman said quietly while trying to wipe the tears, 'during the training course, at the Farm. And then ... then the government started sending you on all those missions, entrapping enemy agents,' she sobbed again, 'seducing all these women ...I-I could never get over it, … never, ever!'

She sighed deeply while looking down at the table and then continued. 'I was so furious, so mad at them, at my bosses, … your bosses actually. I was sending you letters after you went on your first mission. Via the CIA of course, and I never got an answer from you. '

'Oh, really? Hmm, I never received any … any such letter,' Roan murmured to himself.

'Of course, you didn't!' she sobbed. 'Later on, several years ago, thanks to my position, I was finally able to find out what has happened to my letters actually … somebody had stopped and buried them deep into the CIA archives. They didn't want to distract you.'

'Oh, God!' Roan exclaimed.

'I was angry, furious … sooo furious at them, at the government … they didn't care about me, so … so … I stopped caring about them. I was desperate, Roan, started drinking ...and then, one evening, hm-mmm,' she tried to clear her throat, 'there came, ... popped up, out of nowhere, this man, Nathan, … sat next to me at the bar. He presented himself as just divorced, his wife cheating on him.' Beckman paused here. She was clearly going back, remembering something.

'And …?' Montgomery asked gently again.

'Uh, … we hit it off, soon became lovers. I was so young, this was so stupid.'

Beckman made another pause and sipped some water from the glass in front of her.

Roan, realizing that she was in the mood to talk, chose to stay silent, let her get it off her chest.

'Two months later,' Beckman went on, sniffling, 'they somehow knew that I hadn't reported this affair to my bosses. NSA was still the ultra, ultra-secret agency back then. In the NSA, even low level officers knew too much about encryption, encryption of all government agencies, so … we were supposed to report every relationship … for risk evaluation purposes …'

'And you didn't report ...'

'Of course I didn't.' She said sadly. 'I didn't care about the agency, about the whole government anymore. So when Nathan later told me he worked for the Israelis and asked for a favor I couldn't turn him down, … and it was for the Israelis, they were an ally.'

_'Of course, the false flag entrapment …'_ Roan thought to himself shaking his head. '_All spy agencies love the __false flag, it makes it so much easier. How many times did he himself, do that to all those poor women!'_

'I was out of my mind at the time …,' Beckman went on. 'Only a couple of months later did Nathan let me know he wasn't actually working for the Israelis … but I was already too deep in … betrayed too much, I had no choice … or-or so I felt … then.' she uttered quietly.

Roan Montgomery sighed deeply again.

'Well, it's time for a break, dear.' he got up. "The DOJ people will talk to you next ….'

'Is that all, Roan, … you're disappearing again, after having me confess …?' she asked timidly.

'Nooo, Diane, I'll be here with you the whole time. We're finishing this, our first mission together, I'm your new handler now.' He got up and gallantly offered her his hand.

'Let's have something for lunch, shall we?' He gently smiled at her.

Xxx

'Wow!' Chuck exclaimed after they both left the room. 'That was … heartbreaking, … and easy.'

'Well, that remains to be seen,' Carina turned away from the screens. 'The easy part I mean. Was Beckman truthful, Chuck … Ziva?' She narrowed her eyes focusing on Chuck.

'Uh, I didn't flash … on anything,' Chuck uttered first. 'So, I guess, no half-lies,' he shrugged.

'I didn't detect any signs that would suggest she was hiding something,' Ziva added ponderously. 'Or being deceitful ...'

'Very well then, we are off to a really good start,' Sarah chimed in smiling.

Xxx

**Diego Garcia, The Calm Beach, on the inside rim, 16:35**

Sarah and Chuck were walking slowly along the beach. She had been here twice before, preparing for secret missions in the region and she had always enjoyed her stay on the island.

'Do you like this place?' Sarah started.

Chuck stopped and slowly turned, scanning around. The beach was not like anything he had seen before. The almost perfect white sand strip was several times as wide as the West coast beaches and was virtually flat. And then the water in front of him was so shallow, only a couple of feet deep, extended about half a mile inside the ocean. Several hundred yards further however, he could see about 10 large military ships, some of them with large satellite dishes and two had shapes so weird that Chuck wondered what purpose they could possibly have.

Sarah noticed Chuck's fascination with the ships and suddenly was taken over by a horrible thought.

'Chuck,' she started with an obvious anguish in her voice.

'Whu-what, Sarah,' Chuck asked still pondering on something. 'What's the problem?'

'Did you flash on any of these ships …, I mean on the two strange ones?' she asked quietly.

No,' he furrowed, 'nooo, why?'

'Oh, thank God,' she released a really deep breath. 'Those are not just top secret. They are above top secret. If they had included that kind of stuff in the new Intersect, I don't know, the government would most probably want to keep you inside some military base or something. It is very good news, are you sure you didn't flash?'

'No, of course not, don't worry.' he assured her with a really wide and relaxed smile.

Sarah stayed silent for a couple of minutes, obviously weighing something in her mind.

'Chuck,' she started again, 'there is something I have to tell you. We expect this operation to be over in a month or two, will need to know what your plans are.'

'To be or not to be ... the Intersect, I mean, just the Intersect, nothing too fancy,' Chuck quipped.

'Exactly,' she smiled at him.'So you have to decide this time, once and for all.'

'I actually did, Sarah,' Chuck suddenly became serious and somewhat official.

'And ...,' Sarah raised her brows, realizing her heart was pounding. 'What is it then?'

Xxx


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Another shorter chapter, revealing more of Carina's exciting past and Chuck's personal motivation.

**Chuck Versus Agent Insanity - Part II**

**Chapter XVI**

**Mingle With The Beasts**

**-**

**Diego Garcia, The Calm Beach, on the inside rim, 17:15**

'I talked to my father, Sarah,' Chuck started hesitantly. 'I mean, I needed to know whether this new Intersect, … this new version, if it can be removed, you know... whether I have this option before I decide ...'

'Oh ….' Sarah's voice was trembling, ' … and? What did he say?'

'He didn't know this time, nobody knows. With these new functions, … skills, … where more, other areas of the brain are involved, the motor functions, he just couldn't say. Nobody knows actually as he has talked to the creators of the new Intersect skills.' Chuck shook his head. 'So …'

'But...' Sarah interrupted, 'if they were able to remove it, Chuck, what would it be?'

'Well, if I had the choice, it's still the same, ... Intersect it is, Sarah,' Chuck gently smiled at her, 'it gives me purpose, after all these years.' Chuck swallowed hard. 'And we can be together, with you still having your career,' he flashed his softest smile at her, 'it's probably the best that could happen to us …'

'Yeah, yeah, maybe you're right.' she smiled back at him. 'I hope it's going to work when you need it.' she went on hesitantly.

'Actually, it does,' Chuck firmly said. 'First time it got activated was when you were in danger, … uh remember, … in the Intersect room? Then I went into this intersect mode when Casey was badmouthing you, then when Carina was testing it, pretending to be an enemy agent, and finally, when Ellie and Devon were in danger. So …'

'Yeah, yeah,' Sarah said, pondering on something. 'Maybe you're right.'

'Loook!' Chuck yelled, pointing at the water in front of them, 'Looks like a shark, … don't you think?' He was pointing several hundred feet away, exactly where the shallow waters ended and the sea was suddenly turning dark blue. 'I think it's a fin, uh … you know over there.'

Sarah reached for her back pocket and pulled out a small device, her hi-tech spy equivalent of binoculars and focused on the spot Chuck was pointing at. Then she turned to Chuck and smirked.

'Here, look for yourself.' She said while trying to contain her smile. 'It's indeed and shark fin, but a very special one.'

Chuck took Sarah's spy binocular and struggled to focus on the spot even though he had used it a couple of times before.

_Yeah, it looked like a fin but it had an inscription on it. _

'What the … ?' Chuck had started trying to read it.

'It's Casey's special underwater, scuba-dive, anti-shark, gear. Essentially it's a shark costume on the outside, Chuck.' Sarah explained, still smirking, 'It's one of his hobbies, you know, … mingle with the sharks.'

'I see,' Chuck nodded, 'I wonder what the inscription on this fin says but the letters are too damn small..."

'I can tell you, Chuck,' Sarah interrupted him. 'It's "Mad Frog"' she smiled awkwardly. It's one of his code ...' But Sarah couldn't continue as she saw Chuck staggering, while still watching through the binoculars.

'Chuck, did you flash?'

'Mad Frog, huh?' Chuck said after recovering, 'I see. It's more than just his first code name, during his very first covert operation.' Chuck said confidently. "Everything's here.' He pointed at his head. This new Intersect seems to know everything.' He smiled and focused back on Casey's fin.

'Oh, my God!' he yelled again. ' Sarah, I can see too more shark fins approaching Casey's from 11 o'clock!'

He turned to Sarah, breathing heavily now. 'We got to go there and help him.' He started unbuttoning his shirt.

Sarah couldn't help chuckling. "Calm down, super agent. Casey is well-prepared for such encounters.' She said while still smirking. 'And besides, by the time we get there, very little would be left of him, were he not able to protect himself. He has a high power ultra-sound device and other gear, don't worry. After all, the whole point of this exercise is to mingle with the beasts.'

Chuck looked again through the binocular device and focused on the colonel-turned-shark again.

'Well?' Sarah inquired.

'I can see now three shark fins moving together, en block, I guess … unbelievable!' He shook his head. 'They seem to be playfully zig-zagging there. Is he going to kill them?' Chuck asked.

_'Oh, so you're now worrying about the poor sharks, dontcha?_' Sarah thought to herself, still smiling.

'No, I told you, he's just into mingling.' she said instead.

'I wonder how they might communicate there,' Chuck wondered loudly. 'They seem to me like a playful bunch now, judging from their movements.'

'I have no idea, … grunting maybe?' Sarah offered, raising her brows.

Xxx

**Same time, Diego Garcia, the Restricted Area in the South of the atoll**

Carina and Ziva were sitting at a table outside the top secret facility they had used for the Beckman's interrogation, having some coffee.

Carina sighed deeply and stared at the plants all around her. The facility was buried deep into an abundance of tropical foliage, so densely packed that it could make the Amazon jungle green with envy.

Carina didn't realize that she had just sighed real deep.

'What … what's with you?' Ziva asked. 'Since when do _**you**_ have personal problems?'

'_Damn you Ziva!_' Carina exclaimed to herself.

'Personal problems? Nooo, it's the inaction here, all this babysitting of Beckman,' she said dismissively. 'It drives me crazy.'

'But it's our first day only!' Ziva raised her shoulders. 'How …?"

'I know.' Carina interrupted her. 'Still, I can't just sit and watch all this melodrama going on and on and on ...'

Carina cursed to herself for letting Ziva have a glimpse into her real state of mind.

_She had hoped that dealing with the mafia enforcer, Vinnie, would finally do it, give her the closure she so desperately needed. Since Vinnie confirmed her suspicions that somebody outside the US was the real boss, pulling the strings from thousands of miles away and ultimately responsible for the murder of her family, Carina got in fact even more restless. No closure, nothing. If anything, she felt angrier than before, if that was possible anyway. She was now really worried that somebody would finally detect her private problems. Somebody as perceptive as Ziva, or her boss, Austin Fitz-Hume__ would definitely pick up on something amiss with her._

'You know you can share with me,' Ziva smiled at her awkwardly. 'I can see that something is bothering you, something well beyond the hiatus that we have here, on this paradise island. The fact that you wouldn't enjoy your stay at such a magnificent place, even for a second, tells me something.' she smirked. 'Babysitting or not, this op is of highest, highest importance, and your mind is in fact somewhere else.' Ziva shook her head.

'Oh yeah?' Carina retorted. 'Do you want to talk about you and your father? Or maybe this Italian hunk, what was his name, Tony, huh? Love, love, love!' She theatrically waved her hands in circles at Ziva.

'What!' Ziva jumped up. She was about to say something when she realized that her face was reddening. 'That's nonsense, everybody knows we can't stand each other!'

'Of course, of course, and you fight all the time.' Carina shook her head.

'We are a great team and everybody cares about each …' Ziva tried to protest.

'Just shut up Ziva! As you see, you're not the only one who has personal problems. So just shut up, okay!'

_'Wow! Somebody really has personal issues_,' Ziva thought to herself. '_So your love life sucks as well_, huh?' she shook her head. She was in no mood, however, to either talk about her father or Tony.

Before Ziva was about to say another thing, Carina exclaimed, pointing at the reddening clouds above her, 'Look, how beautiful they are, I wish we were on the beach to enjoy the sunset now!'

That was undoubtedly the stupidest thing she had ever said, in her entire life. Well, all she wanted now was for Ziva to stop blabbering. The Israeli agent had turned into such a yenta ever since she left the Mossad and became an American. And she needed to concentrate.

_Her target was hiding somewhere in Italy. He, or maybe it was a woman, it occurred to her for the first time now, this _capo di tutti capi,_ was so good, so devious, that he'd been able to stay undetected for decades and pull the strings of at least one powerful family in the US. And who knows what else. He must have solid, very solid connections throughout Italian intelligence and God knows how much more. Most importantly, Carina didn't know anything … anything about him. Once the news about Vinnie's disappearance had reached the capo he or she must have taken extra precautions, changing appearance, hiding places, means of communication .... _

And she didn't know anything about his family either so that she couldn't even try to set a decent trap for him. The capo must have sent people to investigate Vinnie's disappearance and she should be sniffing around there, in El Paso, eventually track him down. Instead of being stuck on this island, in the very middle of nowhere.

No, she quickly ruled that option out. First, his enemy was too careful and even if he had sent people to investigate, he must have taken all precautions afterwards, surely cutting off all connections to these people.

For some reason, Carina was still thinking of her enemy as a HE.

Carina's solution, her way to find him, lay somewhere else, she could sense it in her guts.

Another possibility, it occurred to her, was to use herself as a bait, but only as a last resort, if she couldn't find him any other way. So far, however, she hadn't even started to actively search for him.

Or maybe _the capo_ was already after her, had somehow already tracked her down or something? Even better, she told herself, grinning inside. If he was that smart and capable, maybe he deserved to win.

If not, sooner or later she'd have him in her net, in her hands.

Instinctively, Carina put her right hand on her chest, a subconscious gesture of self-assurance. And as it had happened so many times before that, she felt, between her fingers, the tiny locket that was always on her neck. It was her only real friend, the only ally she'd ever had.

Checking out on Ziva, who had closed her eyes and had her feet up and resting on the table, Carina pulled the locket out again. She just couldn't resist it, just feeling it again between her fingers was giving her strength, resetting her motivation.

She stared at it, as so many times before, thousands and thousands of times in fact, ever since she had found it in one of the many boxes the FBI people had taken from her parents' house after they were killed.

_Made of pure gold it was obviously hundreds of years old. _

_Even when she saw it for the first time, as a 9-year old, scared to death and still in shock, she had realized that it was from a very different era. The small Sandra had opened the locket. There was an old, very old, black and white photo of a woman, probably her mother's great grandmother. The locket was so stylish, so beautifully engraved that little Sandra had just hung it on her neck and it became a part of her ever since._

_One day, when she was still at high school, while playing with the locket in her hand, Sandra had realized that the photo wasn't strictly following the concave inside of the locket's bottom. There had to be something under the photo, she thought. The old photo, now yellowish paper was so solidly stuck however that it would have been impossible to remove it without damaging, actually destroying it. _

_Sandra hadn't hesitated even for a second. She went to a photo studio and asked for a high quality, large copy of the woman displayed in the photo and the same day, when she was back home and alone, she carefully scraped it off. A coin-like plate, a very, very old, golden one emerged in front of her wide open eyes. Sandra was looking at another face, masterfully engraved on it, this time male, head was short-haired, almost bald. Sandra had remembered she had several encyclopedia volumes at home, all from her mother and decided to check for an Italian who might look like the face from the coin. _

It took her less than two hours to find the painting, a very famous one. It was a male portrait made by Santi di Tito. The image on her coin was exact copy of the painting. Niccolo Machiavelli. The man, she learned while reading the article attached, was a symbol … a very bad one. One filled with political cynicism, keeping the power at any cost, using any means necessary, deception, manipulation, … instigating fear, horror. Although referred to as a great political philosopher, his name was considered to be an equivalent of evil at the same time.

_Why would her mother have and keep a hundred years old locket with the image of Machiavelli?_ Was her mother a descendant? They all were?

Slowly, step by step Sandra/Carina had discovered the whole truth about her genealogy back to the fifteenth century. It led her to a noble woman, not Machiavelli's wife, of course, but one that clearly had an affair with Machiavelli. It was a widely speculated affair.

Once Sandra found out about the coin, she went through her mom's paraphernalia that was still in the attic. She had found several key-chains there. One of the keys stuck out and Sandra soon discovered it was from a safe deposit box from one of the New York branches of a big bank. When several years later she finally got her hands on the box in the bank vault and opened it, she couldn't believe her eyes. There she found yellowish sheets of paper, a manuscript in Italian, obviously about a hundred, hundred-fifty years old. It was accompanied with a translation in English. The English papers were about 30 years old or so she thought. It seemed that her mother had started delving into their family history.

_Art of Manipulation_, she had read in Italian, by Niccolo Machiavelli. No date, which was very strange. There was no such work officially ever published by him.

When Carina read the manuscript she was already 24 and had six years of experience as an intelligence operative. Going through Machiavelli's principles of manipulating she couldn't help chuckling all the time. It was the mother of all deja-vu's for her. What he had preached was what she was already practicing. She didn't need anybody to teach her that. It was obviously in her genes. She didn't even need any DNA or other documentary evidence. She already knew what she owed her talents to … her genetic make-up.

She was really fascinated to read Machiavelli's personal story and realized that he actually had a mediocre, unsuccessful political career. He was just a really great theoretician.

Carina, on the other hand, was a natural in implementing it into practice. Every time she needed something from somebody, she had always been able to get it. And now she needed her skills more than ever before. The enemy was extremely powerful, and obviously so careful that nobody throughout the US government had even heard about the US mafia being manipulated from the outside, by somebody who preferred to stay in the shadows and just pull strings here and there.

Carina slapped her forehead. 'Oh, my …!'

'What,' Ziva had jumped up, 'what's the problem?'

'Uh, nothing, I just forgot I had to make a phone call,' Carina lied, 'sorry, Ziva, 'I'm gonna get back to the communication unit. I need to make a really important phone call.' She jumped up and rushed back to the building behind Ziva.

'_Oh, my God,_' Carina exclaimed again to herself while walking along a corridor. "The capo had the same _modus operandi_ like her; manipulating people from the dark, hiding and pulling people's strings, and always taking extra precautions. The capo was de facto another version of Carina. Could it be that he or she was another Machiavelli? It looked like a long shot to her, but if that had been the case, she could think of ways to get closer and eventually identify the secretive capo. If not … well, she would try other ways to look for him.

Xxx

Poor Carina had no idea what she had come up against. Fifteen thousand miles to the North, North West, in Northern Italy, not one but three Machiavelli descendants had gathered in one of their underground facilities near the small Italian town of Laives.

They were all pouring through Vincenzo's files, computer and everything else, reports from all of their sources. Nothing, none of their assets throughout the US government had any knowledge whatsoever what had happened to their witness protection agent. That was extremely troubling.

Carla Machiavelli, 47, a successful fashion designer and a philanthropist was sitting behind a large desk and checking computer files. Her official surname, the one that she used publicly was different of course. She was the brain of the current clan, and apart from running the secret business, was indoctrinating and teaching her daughter and nephew, preparing the next generation of Machiavellis.

Her twin brother, Marco, was general with the Italian military intelligence, and currently head of the tech support division. It was the perfect position for him as he had access to almost all encryption systems within the Italian government and from there the ability to tap communications, obtain information many government officials would prefer to never see the light of the day. Now, Marco was talking on the phone, explaining why he couldn't report to work all week.

Her younger brother, Giacomo was reading a file, sitting in an armchair several feet away from his sister. He was essentially … nobody. Nobody knew him, anything about him. He was just the backup Machiavelli, in case something happened to Carla and Marco. He was supposed to be inactive most of the time.

But not now, all three had gotten together and were trying to figure out what had happened to their witness protection asset and if there was any kind of danger emerging for their operations in the US. It was a mystery and they didn't like it at all. The only kind of things they liked were those they had 100% control of.

Their working hypothesis was that a secret US agency had taken Vinnie, presumably because they figured he was working for somebody.

People and families with grudges against Vinnie were last on their suspect list for the obvious reason. It was a very low probability for a single person or private group to pull such a stunt without leaving any traces for the law enforcement.

Still, Giacomo was going through possible personal grudges from Vinnie's past. The folder of Carina's granddad, Carlo Falcone, and his entire family was stuck in the middle of one of the piles next to Mr. Nobody. Sooner or later, he was going to get his hands on it.

Xxx

A/N: As always, I'm so very grateful to NickyR for her help, which is particularly important since English in not my first language.


End file.
